COURAGE TO BE RESPONSIBLE. By Pastor Fernando

Scripture:
Don’t try to avoid responsibility by saying you didn’t know about it. For God knows all hearts, and he sees you. He keeps watch over your soul, and He knows you knew! And He will judge all people according to what they have done.
Proverbs 24:12

Observation:
One of the greatest tragedies in our world today is the constant ditching of responsibility. Rather than finding courage to embrace responsibility, people become increasingly creative finding excuses to ditch it. Solomon mentions an excuse that seems to be effective when avoiding responsibility - the “I didn’t know” excuse. When you think about it, this kind of excuse is almost perfect. How can you make someone accountable for something they did not know about it? But Solomon has an important disclaimer about this. Very often we know what to do, but because wasn’t verbally and directly communicated, we find opportunity to ditch responsibility. We say, “O, I was never told about that.” or “Well, that wasn’t part of my job description.” But deep inside, we know that we are ditching responsibility and we want to find a safe place to hide. According to Solomon, God hates this kind of internal thought processing.

Application:
As a parent I can see how easy is to ditch responsibility when raising my kids. Even at home, I try to use this excuse when I want t o avoid helping around the house. My excuse about not picking up around is. “I didn’t know I was supposed to do this.” How lame! Of course I know I’m supposed to help around the house. The truth is that I’m waiting for someone else to do what I don’t want to do. And instead of embracing the responsibility, sometimes I try to spin the situations and then blame my wife for not communicating clearly to me her expectations.

When it comes to my leadership and authority, I need to avoid excuses and embrace the responsibility God has given me. I want to communicate clearly my expectations and I need to spell out instructions. But at the same time, I need to build a team that is responsible and that helps each other to accomplish goals. I cannot allow people ditching responsibilities. I need to hold them accountable and encourage them to have courage, to be honest, and to be effective.

Prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father, please forgive me for the many times I have ditched my responsibility with lame excuses. Thank you because you didn’t create me stupid! I know who I am and what I am supposed to do. Please help me to have courage to be responsible. also help me to create a culture in our ministry team where people are responsible, honest with themselves, and willing to avoid excuses when somethings don’t go as intended. Help us to bring honor to your name by the way we embrace our responsibilities. Amen!