PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12). Responsibility is defined as a duty or obligation to satisfactorily perform or complete a task (assigned by someone, or created by one's own promise or circumstances) that one must fulfill, and which has a consequent penalty for failure. In your daily experience are you inclined to make others responsible for your predicament? When a problem confronts you, do you look for something or someone other than yourself to blame? Do you seek out a person, thing, or condition on which to unload blame? We live in a culture of blame instead of personal responsibility. People are blaming heredity, environment, job pressures, poverty, prejudices, abuse, and anything else they can think of for their problems today. Christians today are also blaming their local church, the Pastor, the leaders, the church members, even Jesus and God for their Spiritual problems and spiritual immaturity. It will surprise you to know that your present state (both physical and spiritual) is a result of the choices you have made for yourself over the years. In the long run, you have eventually shaped your life by these choices. This process never ends until you die. The choices you make are ultimately your responsibility. The Bible teaches very clearly that we are responsible for the choices and decisions we make daily in our life. Your beliefs are not best expressed in words but rather they are expressed in the choices you make. Your faith affects the choices you make in life. Our society has produced people who ignore their responsibilities in the choices they make and then blame others for their problems. If I develop lung cancer from smoking, its not my fault. I blame the cigarette companies, and they need to pay me compensation. As a society, we have become expert at blaming others. Unfortunately, this blame game has entered the church and affected the both the physical and spiritual growth of believers in Christ. When a believer begins to backslide and fall away from the Lord, he says, Its not my fault. Im not to blame. Its the churchs fault. They arent friendly enough, or the church didnt meet my needs, or its the pastors fault, he is not powerful enough. But its not my fault. Romans 14:12 says, So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. God is going to hold us responsible for the choices we make. This problem of blame game is as old as man, remember, in the Garden of Eden when Adam ate of the forbidden fruit and God put a personal question to him, he shifted the blame to the woman, and when the woman also faced a personal question from God she also shifted the blamed the serpent.

One may ask, didnt each of them (Adam and Eve) have a choice to have said no to the temptation? Anyway, the blame game did not help them; they were made to face the consequence of the personal choice they made. Personal responsibility means, we should think before we act, and consider the Consequences of our actions upon ourselves and others. Gods responsibility here was to give the command and mans responsibility here was to keep the command. A Christian who is in the habit of blaming others for his failure to respond to the Lords demand on him at any point in his life will not grow spiritually. Faith is obedience and faith always leads us forward in Christ. Faith is obeying God regardless of the prevailing circumstance or resulting consequence. Will you be the type of Christian that blames someone else for the choices that you make? Or will you take personal responsibility for your spiritual life and stand firm and grow in Gods Word? Hebrews 11:7 says, By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. Noah accepted his responsibility in the word of God that came to him and responded in faith by building the Ark. By this we say your faith in God is made complete when you take up your responsibility in His word. FAITHFULNESS IS SYNONYMOUS TO RESPONSIBILITY; A FAITHFUL PERSON IS A RESPONSIBLE PERSON. Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Jas 2:17-18. Have you received a word from the Lord? Find out your responsibility in that word? You must know that when you were a sinner, although salvation was free because Christ had paid for it in full, you still had the responsibility to receive Him as your savior, No one could have received Jesus on your behalf that was your personal responsibility. No one could have force you to get saved or prevent you from being saved; it was your choice in receiving what Christ has already paid for. Thank God you made the right choice. Good, now that you are saved, it is your personal responsibility once more to continue in Christ. We are thankful to God for the people He brings into our live to help propel us to spiritual maturity. But in all reality, it is not someone elses responsibility to make me be baptized ( I must make a request), study my Bible (I need to discipline myself), be discipled ( I must submit myself to), go soul winning, or begins serving God (I must find out His task for me). What I mean is, no one can stand in your way preventing you from fulfilling these obedient steps in the Lord. You are the only one that can prevent yourself from obeying God. The only thing that keeps you from obeying these steps is your lack of discipline to do so. Take personal responsibility for these areas in your life and step forward! It is the believers personal responsibility to be grounded and to grow in Christ. You cannot grow in Christ or truly develop any measure of relationship with Him without these indispensable tools: Discipleship, consistent Bible study, Prayer, and fellowshipping with breathren! It doesnt matter whether it is easy or not, exciting or not,

the preacher is boring or not, you have time or not, your work schedule will permit you or not. You cannot neglect your growth tools in Christ and blame someone else for your lack of foundation in Christ. Although it is your personal responsibility to learn from seasoned men and women of God, your belief system must be firmly rooted in Christ based on your own personal Bible study and not for you to be a reflection of another persons life. Brethren, your spiritual life is your personal responsibility, because Christ has provided all the necessary ingredients you need. No one has the power to ruin it or built it but you! While it is easy to blame someone else for a disappointment or failure, the truth is, God has given you enough grace and power to overcome any obstacle in the path of fulfilling your God given purpose (Eph 3:20). Seek His help, take responsibility and press forward. The divine power of God has provided Christians everything necessary to have and sustain life and to have and sustain godliness. Everything necessary for our salvation is provided to us through Christ. Through Jesus Christ each Christian can know and understand everything necessary for him or her to know and understand. 2 Peter 1:1-12 endorses the concept of responsible behavior. Christians do not receive salvation to continue to live an evil lifestyle. A Christians should not understand God's gift of grace in terms of indifference or irresponsible behavior. Notice what Peter 2 Peter 1:1-12. Peter did not suggest that, having godly attitudes and behavior is Gods responsibility but rather it is the Christians responsibility through Gods provision. Peter stressed that it is the duty of Christians to think and act responsibly, the Christians does not "work to earn this." Note in 1:2 Peter's acknowledged avenue of divine grace and mercy were knowledge of God and Jesus Christ. Note in 1:3 it was the divine power that provided Christians everything necessary for life and godliness. It is not "us." It is God. Peter began this writing by stressing God's actions and role in granting the gift of salvation. Subsequently verse 5 added And beside this, giving all diligence, ADD TO YOUR FAITH virtue; and to virtue knowledge This stresses on the believers personal responsibility. We are also responsible to treat people as we would want to be treated. Our society is losing the concept of personal responsibility. Our legal system is geared toward making someone else responsible for anything bad that happens to you. What is your attitude regarding personal responsibility? When you see a need, do you say, Its not my problem? Im not responsible. If you cause someone to experience a loss of some kind, do you tend to deny any responsibility for what happened? If so, then consider some of the laws that God gave Israel in Exodus 21-23. One common theme in these laws is the concept of personal responsibility. Cain said to God, Am I my brothers keeper? In other words, he was asking, Am I responsible for my brother? God says that we do have certain responsibilities toward other people, and their property as well even our enemies; we are responsible for their welfare. There are different areas of personal responsibility from the laws found in the chapters of Exodus 21-23. As you deal with and relate to others, you should bear in mind the principles of personal responsibility stated

there. Have you been accepting personal responsibility for the safety of others? Have you been accepting personal responsibility for making restitution for any loss you have caused, even for mere negligence? Have you been accepting personal responsibility for showing respect to those in authority? Have you accepted your responsibility to help others in their time of need, including your enemies and strangers? God created each of us to be unique. We each bear the responsibility of discovering our unique purpose and following the guidance of the Spirit and Gods Word in order to fulfill that purpose. Sadly, there are Christians today that lack the spiritual foresight to take responsibility for their own choices, take hold of the truth that lies directly before them, and perform real life disciplines necessary to live righteously as they fulfill the purpose for which God created them. A lot of believers stop being faithful to the Lord and excuse it away as someone elses fault. The truth is, if one is looking for an excuse to stop being faithful and obedient to God, I assure you, they abound. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall (2Pe 1:10).