Cultivating Healthy Responsibility

In 1 Corinthians 13:11, Paul famously writes, "When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.” One of the realities of growing up is increasing in responsibility. While we certainly gain more freedom as we get older, that freedom brings with it a greater need to be responsible. However, responsibility can be tricky and can be approached in a number of unhealthy ways. A recent article I read proposed four unhealthy approaches toward responsibility.

First, there is the “posturing” approach, in which we act like we can handle anything and never admit that we need help from others. Second, there is the “performing” approach, in which we worship responsibility and take on an overwhelming amount of it, either because we need to achieve/accomplish in order to feel good about ourselves, or because we can’t say no. Third, there is the “panicky” approach, in which we are constantly worrying about how we’re going to get everything done, while also second-guessing how we went about getting something done. Finally, there is the “passive” approach, in which we attempt to avoid and neglect responsibility out of laziness or procrastination.

These four approaches are not an exhaustive list, but they are ones that may aid us in doing some healthy self-examination. All of have certain tendencies when it comes to being faithful in the good works that the Lord has prepared for us to do. Which of these four categories do you naturally drift toward? If you don’t know, ask someone you trust to share their observations. As each of us is willing and able to identify which direction we may drift when it comes to responsibility, then we can take that before the Lord and ask him to help us to engage our responsibilities in a more God-honoring way by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Ben