Blame the President. Blame Congress. Blame the oil companies. Blame the banks. Blame the rich. Blame the Democrats. Blame the Republicans. Blame Wall Street. Blame Hollywood.
And this national blame game spills over into our personal lives. We blame coworkers for not producing. We blame spouses for not communicating. We blame the other guy for causing the accident.
Rarely do we hear the words, “Blame me.”
There’s a tendency to look at everyone else’s work and find fault.
We shared a High School English teacher who was at the same time an unforgiving task-master and a skilled motivator. She often would admonish us while we took our exams to “keep our eyes on our own paper.”
We’re not sure if it’s because she was worried about us cheating or if it was just an effort to get us to focus on our own work. Probably a little of both.
There was one classmate who spent nearly half his class time with his chin lifted high so he could sneak a peek from the desk of the Class Whiz’s paper (and no, neither of us had this title.)
What’s the point? God wants us to focus our energy on what’s in front of us and to not worry about others. Personal responsibility is a foundational principle to our nation and a key to living a well-rounded life.
What do you think about personal responsibility? Comment below.
“So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”
James 4:17
Read all past issues at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davidrupert
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