Christian Personal Accountability

Christian Personal Accountability

Kevin Bryant 

Personal Accountability in the United States has reached JOKE proportion. Today it seems there is no such thing as personal accountability for anything. If we eat at McDonald’s 10 times a week and we get fat, it’s McDonald’s fault. If we smoke 2 packs of cigarettes a day and get lung cancer, it the cigarette manufacturer’s fault. If we go to a bar and get drunk and have an accident driving home, it’s the bar’s fault. Anyone starting to see a pattern here?  

Same is true of government. If we fail to plan for the future, it’s the government’s responsibility to provide. If we fail to finish High School, it’s the government’s job to make employers pay wages above the minimums set by law. If after paying for a cell phone, rent-a center bill, cable bill, $35,000 car, hair dresser, liquor store and pizza delivery, we don’t have money for groceries, it’s government’s job to provide.  

Look around, personal accountability is all but gone in America. Much of it fueled by political pandering.  

There is another form of personal accountability that is almost completely gone in America. It’s our personal accountability to our children, our neighbors, our community and our God as we know him/her.  

How does someone call themselves a Christian on Sunday, sit and listen to sermons and teachings of responsibility and then on Monday through Saturday only think about themselves and how they can get more from others without having to do anything to get it.  

We have all heard the story of Jesus saying: “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day……..”. Well for many, the story stops right there. GIVE ME MY FISH. They don’t want to be self sufficient. They don’t want to work hard and worst of all they are not thankful for the charity of others nor do they desire to be better for themselves or their families. They believe it is owed to them. Then they care not about their neighbors, their own children’s future, the community which they live. GIVE ME MY FISH. So what if the money spent to give them their fish every day could have bought new books for the school or paid for a school meal of a neighbors child who’s parents work every day for minimum wage at the only job they could get. So what if taxes has to be raised so they can get their daily fish driving many tax payers and businesses out of the community. They don’t care but on Sunday they will right there in church with their neighbors listening to stories of how God helps those who help themselves and telling stories of their own examples of Christian charity work, but come Monday….. GIVE ME MY FISH.  

"Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that ... he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country." --Samuel Adams 

 

Where in the bible does it say soak the rich with higher taxes for I don’t have to learn how to fish? Where in the bibles does it say it’s not a parents responsibility to teach their children? Where in the bible does it say do only that which benefits you, forsaking others? Where in the bible does it say government is responsible for you, not to you? 

Rights are granted by God, not government. Nowhere in the bible does it teach a cell phone is a right, healthcare is a right, lobster and steak is a right, a vehicle is a right, a high paying job is a right, an HD flat screen television is a right. Every one of these suck out money that could go towards betterment of communities, help families that want to better themselves..... BUT HELL NO...... JUST GIVE ME MY FISH, it's my right.  

In the end, we are accountable. We are accountable to our God as we know him and we are accountable for EVERYTHING.