Duty.

The formal definition of the word ‘duty’ is ‘a moral or legal obligation, responsibility, or a task required by one’s job, position, or ethics. It signifies doing what is right or necessary.’ Synonyms include obligation, responsibility, unction, and tax/tarrif.

As followers of Christ, our main obligation, our main responsibility, our duty is to tell others the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

What is the good news? The good news is that Christ came to earth, lived His life, died on the cross for our sins, and was raised to back to life on the 3rd day. That is good news for mankind. We would be dead in our sins, if it were not for Christ.

Even Jesus had a duty, a responsibility, an obligation. His duty was to submit to the will of His Father in Heaven. In the book of Matthew, chapter 26, verse 39 we read where Jesus says, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” In this verse we read Jesus fully submitting to the will of His Father. The ‘cup’ he is referring to is the brutal crucifixion that He knew he would face on the cross.

Our duty is to spread the good news of the Gospel. Our duty is to share Christ’s sacrifice with others. Our duty is to thank our risen Lord for His sacrifice for us.

As we walk through this life, we all have certain obligations– certain responsibilities that we must tend to in our daily lives. We have a responsibility to care for our spouses, raise our children, work our jobs, pay our monthly bills. Some of us are helping our aging parents. Then there are the smaller tasks that go hand-in-hand with the larger ones– like household chores, running errands, being a chaperone at our child’s school or being a coach for their team. We have all these things that we are responsible for, and in the midst of it all, we can’t get side-tracked. We must be mindful of our duty to spread the good news of the Gospel.

How do we do that? How do we spread the word? We pray and ask the Lord to open doors of opportunity for ministry. By that, I simply mean that we should ask the Lord to show us who should we share the good news with. There are people in our families, on our jobs, in our local communities that need to hear that Jesus loves them. We pray for them. We MUST pray for them, but we can also ask God to give us the wisdom and guidance to share the good news with them. It is our duty.

Asking the Lord to open up opportunities for ministry has been part of my prayer time. I want to encourage you to include it in your prayer time, as well. When you spend time reading God’s word and time in prayer, you will gain wisdom and knowledge because the Lord will reveal things to you. Prayer and bible study are also parts of our duties as followers of Christ.

In the book of Mark 16:15, we read the words of Jesus: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”

We must all spread the good news. As a follower of Christ, it is your duty. It is my duty.

Let’s get going!

God bless you!