The Neglected Call

       A verse that keeps popping into my head a lot lately is James 1:22 which reads like this in the KJV  'But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.' It comes to mind and I start to think about the people I know, the people I go to church with, and I start to examine myself. Are any of us really doers of the word?
       I know plenty of people who devote hours of their time to running or participating in activities at the church, but can't help a friend when they are needed. I am myself guilty of this in the past, and currently I am still guilty of not taking enough responsibility for those who surround me, which brings me to the next verse that has been popping up lately, 1 Timothy 5:8 which states 'But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.' These verses have been breaking my heart lately and causing me to take a good long, hard, look at myself, and seeing the selfishness of my behavior sickens me.
      Most people who know me probably wouldn't call me selfish to be honest, but I see it. I am selfish in not performing the task to which I have been called, I am selfish in not sharing the gospel with those in my own family but doing what I can here, neglecting what should be my first concern, the unsaved in my own family. And why do I do this? Because its easier to talk to other Christians about God than those in my family who already look at me as an oddity. Because it is easier to share with you than it is them. This is my failure in fulfilling the great commission (Matthew 28:16-20; Mark 16:14-18), and I know I am not alone this.
       I am neglecting my own, and not doing what the word tells us to do by not taking the word to them, and in that I see where I need to change. I need to be as bold in my faith with them as I am everyone else, I need to take every opportunity given to reach them if not by words and deeds than by the love expressed, and I need to be praying for them until my knees are too weak to move. I need to show them who Jesus is and be as much like Him as I can for their sakes. This wasn't an easy post to write, to be honest it is very difficult to look at myself this way, I've been avoiding this responsibility a long time because frankly I have been afraid to become anymore of an outsider than already am, but those two verses finally broke me down and humbled me, I will tell you when you look at them in context, where I was taken with them is not what the whole thing was about to be honest, but God used these words anyway to drive home His point to me.
       If I am to be a doer of the law and not just a hear, I must be evangelizing, and I must be doing it in my own family, not only among strangers. I must not neglect their spiritual needs as I seek to encourage others. I ask you now to look at yourself too, are you neglecting those in your own family while working elsewhere? Be blessed brothers and sisters.

Psalm 66:16        
Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul.

Ezekiel 33:8        
If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.

Mark 16:14-18
14 Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. 15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

Acts 20:24        
But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.