“Responsibility” is a heavy-sounding word. But assuming personal responsibility is about freedom (a lighter-sounding word.) When you have freedom, you get responsibility along with it. If no one is mandating what to do, you need to figure it out for yourself. You need to be responsible with your freedom.
You don’t have to meet anyone’s expectations. You are not hostage to anyone else, unless you choose to serve someone out of love. You’re free from that!
You don’t have to do what is expected. So, you are not bound by expectations that people try to force on you. You’re free from that. too!
You don’t serve a capricious God, who leads by spectacular, mystical signs. You know a loving God speaks through that internal voice you keep hearing, but have too often ignored. Actually, he speaks in a multitude of ways, that could involve, relationships and circumstances, as well as, inner promptings.
The point is, your spiritual expression is up to you. You no longer look for an easy way to outsource it, making yourself subservient to a spiritual private contractor. How you express you faith is up to you! A whole new world just opened up!
That’s the freedom part. But the freedom created a vacuum, called responsibility.
You get to set your own personal values, goals, and objectives. You get to find out who you really are. You may have put that off for a long time. Some people never get around to it.
You are no longer frozen into status quo inactivity. You get to dream, imagine, and take steps in the direction of your true identity.
You realize God speaks to your heart, and you learn to hear him, and trust him.
How you express your faith is up to you. You get to figure these things out for yourself.
How will YOU worship God? How will YOU serve others? How will YOU live a more sustainable life? How will YOU experience community and relationships?
I believe that God has left way more in our court, than I ever thought previously. We are not his drones. He doesn’t do cookie cutter anything. He relates to us individually. He is not trying to make us something we are not. He is trying to get us to release the potential he put within us.
There is so much power in our personal story, our personal identity, and our unique passions and abilities, that when we act in accordance with who we really are, it will scare some people.
So, go scare somebody!
Photo Credit: Kalyan Chakravarthy. Creative Commons.
