Being Responsible

 
Life is unfair!  Stop the world; I want to get off.  How can I ever be happy, when my life has been this bad? My parents made me what I am today!  The problems in my family have influenced who I am and what I will be; there is nothing I can do to change that.  It's not my fault I am who I am; there is no changing me.
     Have you ever thought, said, or heard someone else say something similar to these statements?  Attributing our problems, failures, mistakes, sins, and any other deficiency we may have to someone or something else is a mark of immaturity,  selfishness and a disregard for the reality that God made us to be responsible people!
How bad is the problem?   
“We live in a culture that has elevated pride to the status of a virtue.  Self-esteem, positive feelings, and personal dignity are what our society encourages people to seek.  At the same time, moral responsibility is being replaced by victimism, which teaches people to blame someone else for their personal failures and iniquities” (John MacArthur, Jr. The Vanishing Conscience, p. 11)
     We must accept responsibilities for our own actions (Ezekiel 18:4, 20; Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Joshua 24:15; 1 Kings 18:21; Matthew 7:13-14; 24-27).  God’s record gives us illustrations of wrong choices: Eve (Genesis 3:6-7); Cain (Genesis 4:3,5); People in Noah’s day (Genesis 6:23); and numerous instances of disobedience throughout history.  God’s Word also gives us plenty of illustrations of right choices: Noah (Genesis 6:8); Joseph (Genesis 39:7-10); the man born blind (John 9:7);Paul (Acts 9 & 22); the jailer (Acts 16:33); and many other examples of making the right decision. 
     Man has obligations that are Divinely given: “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).  See also:  Hebrews 12:28; 1 Samuel 15:22; Matthew 7:21; 4:10.  Notice three areas where God especially highlights our individual personal responsibility:
     Responsible For Personal Influence: “You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all” (2 Corinthians 3:2).  Your lifestyle choices will either produce positive or negative influence to the people around you. 
     Responsible For Our Words: “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak,  for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned”  (Matthew 12:36-37).   Are we mindful of how our speech can influence others?  Do we remember that our speech can condemn us?  
     Responsible For Our Soul: So then each of us will give an account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12).  “He will render to each one according to his works:  to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;  but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.  There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek,  but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.  For God shows no partiality” (Romans 2:6-11).
     In every choice there is no such thing as indecision!  Whenever we are faced with the choice of good or evil, there is never a middle ground/neutral position!  The choice is OURS to make and we must not blame birth, society, environment, peer pressure, or anything else!  There is reward or punishment depending on the choices we make!
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Steve Miller