DUTIES

Duties are the same as responsibilities. They are also connected to our own personal set of values. What is a duty to someone is not a duty to someone else. I'm a father, and my duties are different for my wife. I can't give birth to a baby, she can; we both have different talents, so we focus on what each of us is good at and that way we become a team. For those things neither one of is good at, we work together and do the best we can.I have the right to vote in this country, so I do. I must pay taxes so we do. I was never in the military, but I served as a civilian for the Department of Defense for 26 years. As I watch our younger generation growing up; I see them with all kind of gadgets in their hands, texting, taking videos, playing games, and not even talking much to one another. I don't mind them doing that; they remind me of older trees watching the young sprouts which are just pushing themselves up out of the ground. Over time these young sprouts will grow taller and small branches will be forming, and these plants will be reaching out for sunshine and enjoy when rain provides them the moisture they need to grow yet taller and stronger. After all, I'm either their mother or the father, and these little ones will some day be as old as we are, and they too, will drop little acorns from their branches and fall into the ground, just deep enough to sprout they we both did so many years ago. Oak trees are like that; some think that they don't reproduce, but walk out into a woods some where and when you find an old oak tree, look around the perimeter of those trees, and you will see their little ones, reaching up toward the sunlight, and waiting for drops of rain to help them grow. Over the centuries duties have changed. They change when there are wars, when new technology is put on sale, when one generation passes away and a new generation adopts different values. Mind you, I like change, that's how we keep abreast with what can be good and necessary. But some changes aren't good, nor necessary. In medicine there is what is called "The Placebo Effect" where a fake pill is used along with real pills. This is done to see if the fake pill will bring any benefit to the sufferer. It often does just because the idea that they are taking the right medication causes their brain to believe that it works. The same is also true of leaders. Many times a charismatic person will look like a great Political leader, and yet when they are actually elected into office they prove they are anything but a good leader.

  There duties which are tied to laws.  These laws are made either to tax people, or to protect them from those who would cheat them.  Many people resent paying taxes, and sometimes people are taxed unfairly; however, taxes are necessary if the governments can provide what people vote for; and this often means some are taxed for services that they themselves don't receive.  When the disciples asked Jesus about being taxed, He replied, "Render to them the taxes due unto them, and render to God what is due to Him".  You see Jesus was using a coin with the image of the ruler of that time, and the point that Jesus was making is that we all are made after God's image, and it was a lesson to teach His disciples to be lawful abiding citizens, but to also remember that they have a higher called as servants of God.

  I close with this observation; this idea of duties will continue to be a concern to all.  In the future we can expect a lot of change, and I believe we must change with the times.  To stubbornly hold on to the past, will never work.  It didn't work for those generations who have gone before us, and it will not work for us either, so do your duties, but remember, if you are a Christian, you are to be a servant to God and to man also.