Taking personal responsibility for your life | Faith

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2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” For your ACTIONS Your behavior says a lot more about you than anything your words ever could say. What most people know about you is by seeing and hearing the daily activity of your life. You can go into business with a desire to “make it big,” but if your work ethic stinks, then you won’t be successful. What you do defines who you are. People won’t be taken advantage of too many times before they rightfully label you by your actions. For your REACTIONS If “actions speak louder than words,” then your reactions are speaking volumes! You have to learn to discipline your reactions to keep from ruining your good name. Anybody can “blow up” or “give them a piece of my mind” or “cuss them out” — but in reality all you have accomplished is that you have now confirmed what those around you had only thought … that you have a lot of growing up to do. You can’t keep pointing your finger at everyone around you and blame them as being responsible for your behavior. It’s time as a culture (beginning in this community) that we re-establish ourselves as the mature and intelligent beings God created us to be. That we take personal responsibility for our reactions and pass down a better behavioral standard than we started with. For your CHOICE of FRIENDS Show me your companions and I will know what kind of a person you are most likely to become yourself. It’s a lot easier to be pulled downhill than to pull someone else uphill, especially if the other person is insisting on going in their direction! Your choice of friends will define you and has the potential to limit you in your pursuits in life. Do your “friends” bend and break the rules? Do your “friends” use drugs? Do your “friends” live immorally and against the known expectations of God’s Word? Your life is being altered and changed daily by the influence of “friends.” If you take personal responsibility for your choice of friends, you may discover, as many already have, you might need to find some new friends! For your ETERNAL SOUL Finally, but most importantly, your eternal soul. This is the part of you that will never die. When your body goes to the grave and all your treasures are sold in the family yard-sale, where will you be? You will consciously exist somewhere forever. God, who created all things and wrote the rules, will one day sit on a Throne of Judgement and you will stand before Him. On that day, the choices you made in this lifetime will matter. What you did about your actions, your reactions, your choice of friends, and much more will matter to you, as well as to God. Most importantly, what you did to make preparations for your eternal soul will matter above all other things. Have you trusted Christ to be your personal Lord and Saviour? Have you ever willingly turned to God from your sin? Have you believed that Jesus’ death on the cross has paid for your sins, and His Bodily Resurrection assures you of the fact that Heaven will be your eternal home? If not, you really should consider taking personal responsibility for this today! See you in church! (Pastor Jones can be reached by email pastor@faithbaptistchurch.us. Follow him on Twitter @PastorTonyJones or visit an upcoming service at Faith Baptist Church… “the church on the hill.”)