BBD 08.01.08 Tanggung Djawab
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>
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08.01.08
Tanggung Djawab
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies,
kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and
forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as
Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on
love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your
hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the
word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing
one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in
your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the
name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. -
Colossians 3:12-17.
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to
the Father except through Me." - John 14:6.
The Indonesian language has a word for responsibility "tanggung djawab." It
means literally, "to hold the answer." This is to say that for anyone to
hold the answer in any situation and not to share it they would be blatantly
irresponsible.
What is the responsibility of the Christian? The apostle Paul sums up the
Christian's responsibility with one verse in Colossians 3:17. What does the
Christian life include? The Christian life is everything you say, everything
you do, and everything you are. The Christian life should be everything,
every detail of what you are - nothing held back.
What does it mean to "do all in the name of the Lord Jesus?" In the time of
the early church the name of a person indicated the person's authority and
power - to do something in the name of that person, or in relationship with
that person. What is our relationship to Jesus? How do we see Jesus in our
life? We must see Jesus as Lord of our lives, not as a Lord, or one of many
Lords, but as the Lord.
Many Colossians, because of a false teaching called Gnosticism, saw Jesus
only as a god (among many) and that there were more powerful spirit beings
than Jesus. Sadly, I read in a recent Time magazine that there was a survey
of religious Americans revealing that 70% agree that "many religions can
lead to eternal life." Ten years ago I wrote in a devotional and said that,
"few Christians would admit to having the same problem that the Christians
at Colossae had." Apparently many Christians or possibly false Christians
have bought a lie in the past ten years straight from the pit of hell.
However, even if we believe that Jesus is the only "Way" to Heaven many of
us still have other gods that we worship. If there is anything that we put
before God then it is a false God, an idol.
The false gods we worship and serve today have names like: money, material
possessions, careers, recreation, selfishness, alcohol, drugs, pornography,
school activities, even our children or our spouses. Before we can ever
fulfill our responsibility as a Christian, we must deal with our false gods.
"Tanggung djawab." We hold the answer, we bear responsibility for those
around us, but before we can ever reach them, we must deal with our own
lives. We are each responsible to place Jesus on the throne of our life so
that we can fulfill our responsibilities as a child of God.
Copyright © 2008. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
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