Responsibility
There is no question that a child cannot function as an adult. The differences physically, emotionally, mentally and overall in maturity, make it impossible for a child to work and live as an adult. One phase of growth that is necessary to function as an adult in an adult world comes with the realization of responsibility. As a child matures, there comes an understanding that life brings obligations which must be met. If this is accepted, growth can continue. So many problems faced by society today come back to the fact there are many who refuse to accept responsibility for their lives.
There is no question that a child cannot function as an adult. The differences physically, emotionally, mentally and overall in maturity, make it impossible for a child to work and live as an adult. One phase of growth that is necessary to function as an adult in an adult world comes with the realization of responsibility. As a child matures, there comes an understanding that life brings obligations which must be met. If this is accepted, growth can continue. So many problems faced by society today come back to the fact there are many who refuse to accept responsibility for their lives.
Growth as a child of God is similar to that of children growing as adults. We start spiritually as babes, and if we grow as we should, progress will occur in our maturing in Christ. The more we grow, the more Christ-like we become. If we stop growing, we don’t remain static, but will regress, and become immature again. One aspect of growth in Christ comes with accepting the responsibilities of being children of God, of life in His kingdom. To accept these responsibilities enables growth; without it, there are definite setbacks in one’s development as a Christian.
Scripture reminds us, “But speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, even Christ” (Eph. 4:15). It would be easy to measure ourselves by some arbitrary standard, or to look to those areas of life in others where we feel we’re doing better (excluding those we are not). However, our measure of growth and maturity is Christ, “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). We must ask ourselves, do we live our lives in imitation of Christ, or are there discrepancies between us and His example? It is unimaginable that Jesus would refuse to accept the responsibility placed on Him as the Son of God. What if He had refused to take the form of flesh, to become human (Phil. 2:6-7)? What if, in His humanity, He refused to die on the cross (Phil. 2:8), and had instead called down twelve legions of angels to defend Himself (Matt. 26:53)? Of course, Jesus did not reject His responsibility as our Savior, for it would have condemned humanity for eternity. The responsibility, which he fulfilled in love, was too great to neglect.
We must recognize our responsibilities as His disciples, to be fulfilled in love as well, are important in our relationship with God and each other. We all have talents and opportunities, and to fail to do our part makes the church weaker, less able to accomplish its God-given work. It takes all of us working together to reach our potential in service, individually and collectively. When we leave our part for someone else to do, we reveal a lack of maturity in our lives. The work of the Lord will be diminished, and we will miss out on the blessings that growth in Christ brings.
Evaluate your maturity; where do you stand? Responsibility is an important and integral aspect of life, in the quality of life we have, of the quality of relationships we have with others. It is the same with our relationship to Christ. As Paul encouraged, Archippus, so his words should apply to us as well; “Pay attention to the ministry you have received in the Lord, so that you can accomplish it” (Col. 4:17).
Robert Johnson
