LIFE (Living in Father’s Expression)

THE PATH OF RESPONSIBILITY

One of the most important attributes of Jesus, whose character traits we look at in this column, is responsibility. Every man given a purpose, a job or a position automatically has been given a responsibility to take care of. It is a natural thing that comes with purpose and positions. However, how each responds to the responsibility in those positions will determine what level of success they will come out with.

We have a situation in our hands in Afrika, where people run for positions in government, positions in business, positions in church leadership, positions in family and every other area of life where positions are open, but are not effective in their positions because of lack of responsibility to that which they are mandated with. There are all manner of weird things going on in every area of our society and almost all the time you don’t get to see those responsible for such areas of society actually take responsibility. This has been the case for years since independence in Afrika. With position comes responsibility, and also I think responsibility can only work when men are accountable for every decision they make while carrying out their responsibility.

I read somewhere that responsibility means responding to your ability. This totally makes sense, especially when responsibility is the test of your ability to handle that which is given to you to take care of. Everyone is cut out somehow by divine providence to handle whatever is placed before them.

What is your mandate?

What would Afrika look like if everyone in a position of responsibility was accurately responding to those responsibilities?  For example, you hear an Afrikan president say he is not able to deliver on his promise to his nation after six years of being elected, because of the supposed failure of the past administration. How on earth is that even an excuse? It doesn’t make any sense. Being elected as President means, you are ready to both give solutions to the problems you inherited and the problems that come with your own administration. Otherwise, you have no business leading a country.

This issue of accurate response to responsibility brings us to something important. What is your mandate?

No one can be responsible for a mandate they are not even aware of, nor can anyone give account for that which is not entrusted to their hands. Concerning Jesus, it is written thus “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” 1 John 3:8 (bold italics mine). Clearly this was one of Christ’s mandates, to destroy the works of the devil through the death of the cross. And from all indications, He was responsible for that mandate and He finished it. He didn’t stop even when He was faced with the pain of impending torture and death, He still said to His Father who gave Him the mandate “not My will but Yours be done”. He showed us that every mandate we are given must come with its own test of strength to see it through and also how to respond to that test.

What if we all were responsible for our mandates?

Imagine a situation where everyone on earth, in Afrika, in the work place, in the family, in the business place, in the church, in the mosque, in government is responsible and accountable for their positions and mandates. How many lives have been lost to disease because some scientist somewhere decided to play irresponsible games with vaccines? How many lives have been lost to terrorism because some army officer or some security agents decided that the lives of innocent citizens who they are paid to protect were not worth more than the brown envelop they collected in their shady deals? How many trillions of dollars has Afrika lost in the last sixty years because some humans in positions of authority decided that Afrika must not go forward, so they used their positions for personal gain? The list is endless.

We all are responsible for everything we have been given as mandates and callings. Afrika is like a huge building whose parts are in the hands of various people. The irresponsible act of one part will certainly drag the whole into backwardness. We must take personal responsibility for our mandates. We must take responsibility for our motherland called Afrika. We must not allow irresponsible leaders to make jokes out of our collective destiny. We must hold everyone in position accountable for their decisions. Should Afrika not have emancipated by now?

Think about it.