DUTY is not following the path of least resistance. Conforming to the status quo is caving to fear. Thomas Paine once said, “That which we obtain cheaply we esteem too lightly.” It is a cheap and useless life that gives in to its own gratification and ease of movement. Following the path of least resistance will only take you down the crooked path with no aspirations for success and not thought of failure. I noticed an oxbow lake today while I was driving about. Geologically speaking, an oxbow lake is a river divorced of it’s source. The path of least resistance can drive you on a quick and easy ride, meandering about the plain, but once erosion takes its course and the path is made to change in the weakness of a lesser challenge (another path of least resistance), it leaves the bow in exchange for a wild and reckless path elsewhere. In its wake a lake is formed like is shaped like a bow left to itself. The oxbow lake dries up having no life and no impulse of progression or momentum. Stagnant, it is useless. Jesus says, that whoever finds their source of water in Him, “the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” (John 4:14)
Duty comes from the root word that means “to owe.” DUTY! It is what you are obligated to do because of the trust instilled in YOU. It is the privilege of serving in a capacity that is uniquely yours and no one else’s. It is YOU who has been tasked with the responsibility to do it—to pay it forward. It is the occupation by which we will be judged by future generations as they scrutinize your life.
DUTY is the cohesion that holds the integrity of armies together. It confirms our mission to keep the faith once and for all entrusted to the saints. Since faith is ALWAYS equal to action (you can’t have faith without it) I define faith as belief in action. Faith can be acted upon presently, and not necessarily in some future place. Hope is in the future. Faith is believing the bridge will carry you and acting on it by walking it. What else holds the church together? Hope and love. Hope sees what love lives to do. Love in the attitude that seeks the others best interest or highest good. Our duty is to live with the highest ideals in hope that the other can attain to much when we give for their benefit. God had it all figured out. Love is sacrificial. If you have ever felt like nobody knows or cares about what you have faced with integrity, just remember, even though you and your character may be overlooked and undervalued by those around you, God sees and remembers – for eternity.
What you’ve been through and what you are going through is not unseen Frou. God especially sees and my CONSTANT prayer is that your FAITHfulness is rewarded by the blessing which you HOPE to have in the exercise of your LOVE.