TAKE RESPONSIBILITY!

 

If you are a news-junkie, count how many times you will hear people blaming people in authority on news broadcasts. The economy goes down, unemployment is high; immediately you hear everyone blaming the government for these economic troubles. There is a serious accident at one of our street corners and you hear people blaming the city council. 

 

Many times, the government structures have been slow to secure safe street corners. But the human need to call out blame is immediate. We are a blaming animal.

 

Blaming is too often a part of our spiritual lives. Something bad happens and we yell out blame towards God. You should be doing something to prevent this. You (i.e., Almighty God) should change this terrible situation!

 

But there is another side that we must give our attention to today. This is the whole area of human responsibility.

 

There is a war going on in the Ukraine. No one should look toward God to make the war stop. The first thing we must do is recognize that this war (and all wars) is a human creation. A human being, with full freedom, declared the invasion of another country. He (and his government officials) ordered in the army. The soldiers were sent to bomb, kill civilians and destroy countless homes and factories. 

 

Never blame God for any explosive that did damage or any bridge that was destroyed. Human beings must be responsible for each and every one of these destructive actions.

 

One of the grade twelve students from your school gets high on drugs. He speeds through a red light, killing one pedestrian. This is not an act of God. This is the action of a human being. God is not responsible for this. A human being drove a vehicle through a red light!

 

God gave every human being the power to act freely. We have control over our decisions and actions. If God is getting blamed for the creation of war, we need to call such blame into question. No one should ever be cheated of being a responsible human being. 

 

In response to the six months of war that the human race has endured so far, we need to come before God and beg for a change of heart. Ask God to work in Mr. Putin and his government to work for a settlement to this invasion. Ask God for the energy to work towards peace. Ask not just to have the guns go quiet and return to their original storage sheds, but ask that the energy directed towards fighting now be directed towards restoring the Ukrainian society and economy.  Put down your guns and plant potatoes/food for the poor and hungry of this country. Ask God to restore peace within the Russian society, upset by this war.

 

Our Christian response to evil is not to push it off and blame God what too often is a very evil human action. Name where responsibility must be placed. 

 

Then instead of anger and blaming we want to plant justice, respect and fairness in this world. We want to take personal responsibility to make this world a better place; simply because we have walked on this earth. 

 

We take seriously the pithy words of wisdom and apply it in the face of evil decision made by human beings. “Better to light one candle than to ever curse the darkness.”