Be sure to do what you should, for then you will enjoy the personal satisfaction of having done your work well, and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct.-Galatians 6:4-5 (NLT)
Imagine if I went to the pulpit on a Sunday morning and said, Today's message is going to be a little bit different. You see, people kept interrupting me on my normal study day and so I had to bump it over to Saturday. But because my son had a baseball game that morning, which went into extra innings, I couldn't focus on the Word until late in the afternoon. And then, when I got to my office, I happened to turn on the T.V. and I saw that they were running a documentary on a band that I used to be involved with. Before I knew it, the time had slipped away. So I hope you don't mind, but today we're going to have a mini-message.
How irresponsible! And yet, this analogy contains three things that I've found we frequently do when our character is lacking in the area of responsibility: we'll find fault with others (people kept interrupting me), we'll cast blame (my son had a baseball game), and we'll make excuses (it was a band that I used to be involved with). But a responsible heart doesn't hide behind these rationalizations. It doesn't find fault in others, cast blame, or make excuses but, instead, owns up to its responsibilities. Christians with this kind of character recognize that they are responsible for the choices they make in life. They don't point to someone else or the circumstances they were born into.
In an age where 'passing the buck' has almost become an art-form, the family of God needs to do a better job of owning up and being responsible for its own conduct. When the world sees us do this, it will have more respect for and be more receptive to what we have to say.
DIG - What are three traits of an irresponsible heart?
DISCOVER - How do you respond when you do something wrong?
DISPLAY - Keep a running record of your mistakes and how you react after you make them."
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