Whose responsibility is it?

R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y... something that we all agree others should have, but yet we struggle to maintain it ourselves! It seems more and more, there is a decline in personal responsibility. It is difficult to own up to our own mistakes - we see it in politics, we see it in business, we see it in the headlines and we see it in our living rooms.

Lack of responsibility is not just a problem with the rich and famous. Many times all we have to do to find an example of someone giving excuses is look in the mirror. It is so easy to give excuses for our actions. And it is very easy to find fault with others because it is easier to place blame rather than take responsibility.

ROMANS 2:1 "When you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things."

The mistake that I make so often is looking at what I think others should or should not do instead of looking at myself. It is easy for me to say or think, "it's not my responsibility!" and refuse to change my ways. I have to admit there are some things around our house that I just do not enjoy to do and I wish someone else would take the responsibility for it. I really don't like having to change the toilet paper roll every single time I go into our bathroom. I also do not like to carry the trash out. I especially do not like to pick up every one's wet towels off of the bathroom floor. Why does it have to be my responsibility to do these things?

In last week's YOUR OPINION MATTERS POLL, I asked the following question, "What responsibility do you have that you really wish you didn't have?" The top 3 answers were:

1. 36% of those voting said they wish they didn't have to pay the bills.

2. 18% voted and said they wish they didn't have the responsibility of washing the dishes.

3. 18% responded and said they don't like having to balance the checkbook.

We all have things that we wish we didn't have to do, but pushing our responsibility off onto someone else is not God's way of showing love to others. When others do not live up to their responsibility, instead of becoming annoyed ... ask God to help you to fulfill your duties and then forgive others when they fall down on their responsibility.

Change yourself and then let God change others.