{"id":930,"date":"2014-09-23T17:26:54","date_gmt":"2014-09-23T21:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=930"},"modified":"2014-09-25T07:40:04","modified_gmt":"2014-09-25T11:40:04","slug":"am-i-my-brothers-keeper-hey-what-if-hes-not-my-brother-on-neglect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=930","title":{"rendered":"Am I My Brother’s Keeper? Hey, What if He’s Not My Brother?! – On Neglect – Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Blog<\/a>Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” – Genesis 4:9<\/span><\/p>\n

We must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward,\u00a0<\/span>how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?…Therefore, in all things He had to be made like <\/span>His<\/span><\/i> brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things <\/span>pertaining<\/span><\/i> to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. <\/span>For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted. – Hebrews 2:1-3, 17-18<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Neglect\/Neglectful<\/a> – to leave behind, to omit by carelessness or design, to slight, to omit to receive\/embrace, to disregard, to be inattentive, to become accustomed to omit what may or ought to be done.<\/span><\/p>\n

I don’t want a life riddled with gaping holes of neglectfulness. Nor do I want to leave a heritage of neglect. Who does? Yet it can happen ever so subtly in our pursuit of safety and security, circling our wagons tightly\u00a0around what personally matters most to us. And the rest of the world?<\/p>\n

Not My Business<\/span><\/p>\n

Not My Problem<\/span><\/p>\n

Not My Family<\/span><\/p>\n

Not My Job<\/span><\/p>\n

Not My Call<\/span><\/p>\n

Not My Responsibility<\/span><\/p>\n

Not My Fault<\/p>\n

Not My Gift<\/span><\/p>\n

Not My Calling<\/span><\/p>\n

Not Worth My Time\/Money<\/span><\/p>\n

Not Worth Saving<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0most winsome\u00a0thing I know of God is that He loves the whole world (John 3:16)<\/a>. I don’t want to line out my life…set boundaries…\u00a0such that\u00a0some around me are more deserving of grace than others…that some are worthy of aid or intervention but others are not…that some are outside of the Gospel and others, by “accident” of geography or opportunity, are not.\u00a0 As\u00a0citizens of the Kingdom of God, we have been given a great salvation –\u00a0“so great a salvation” that we cannot neglect <\/strong>His intent of it, for our sakes, and for those around us. There is no such thing as benign neglect.*<\/p>\n

We, individually and corporately, can’t save the world, as much as we would like. However, our humanity, \u00a0with whatever perceived limited capacity we have, was meant to glorify God by our nature and pursuits. We can determine to live lives faithful and pleasing to God –\u00a0“to do justly, t<\/span>o love mercy, a<\/span>nd to walk humbly with\u00a0 God” (Micah 6:8).<\/span><\/p>\n

If you look at the list of “not’s” above, you may, like\u00a0I do,\u00a0see phrases\u00a0we’ve used before for decisions made and actions not taken. Look now at some of the antonyms<\/a> for neglect – what it is to not yield to being neglectful – intentional, diligent, constant, loving, inclined, conscious, determined, caring, keeping, dedicated, patient, carrying through, preserving, mindful, attending, cherishing, conserving, celebrating, listening, nourishing, obedient, inspiring, giving, remembering, redeeming, watchful, purposeful.<\/span><\/p>\n

With so great a salvation that we have received, how could we choose to be any other way toward others?<\/p>\n

\u201cTo fail to exhibit that we take truth seriously at those points where there is a cost in our doing so, is to push the next generation in the relative, dialectical millstream that surrounds us. \u201d Francis A. Schaeffer<\/a><\/p>\n

Denzel Washington, Martin Luther, and Our Strange Neglect of the Bible<\/a><\/p>\n

Francis A. Schaeffer –\u00a0a modern-day prophet, author of How Shall We Then Live?<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The Age of Personal Peace and\u00a0Affluence<\/a><\/p>\n

Do Not Neglect the Weightier Matters of the Law<\/a><\/p>\n

Charles Spurgeon’s Sermon on Neglecting Our Personal Work in the Kingdom<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit<\/span><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Worst-Case Scenarios: The Problem of Neglect<\/a><\/p>\n

*“Benign” neglect<\/a>\u00a0 – a noninterference that is intended to benefit someone or something more than continual attention would.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” – Genesis 4:9 We must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and … Continue reading Am I My Brother’s Keeper? Hey, What if He’s Not My Brother?! – On Neglect – Part 1<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[147,109,33,18,317,263,537,32],"tags":[635,630,637,639,640,631,632,641,122,638,634,633,636],"class_list":["post-930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family-2","category-home-2","category-inspired","category-jesus","category-lessons-learned","category-lives-full-of-god","category-volunteeringserving","category-walk-with-god","tag-affluence","tag-brothers-keeper","tag-francis-a-schaeffer","tag-generous","tag-heritage","tag-neglect","tag-neglectful","tag-next-generation","tag-peace","tag-redeeming","tag-safety","tag-security","tag-so-great-a-salvation"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pauPAB-f0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=930"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":956,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930\/revisions\/956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}