God's Part, Our Part, Their Part

Ezekiel 33:7-11 “So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 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. But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.

“And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus have you said: ‘Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them. How then can we live?’ Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?"

God wants to save and Ezekiel is responsible for declaring the message God gave him, but he is not responsible for how the people react to the message. There is God's part, our part, and their part. As much as we might desire to change someone else, we can only do so much. Once we have fulfilled our God given role in someone's life, we have to leave the results in God's hands. Likewise, ultimately our lives before God are not someone else's responsibility. When we hear the word of God, we need to obey regardless of what other people did or did not do.