Exodus 21:1
“Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.”
Any parent who wants to raise their child right will teach them from an early age not to give excuses. Personal responsibility seems to be a thing of the past. Someone does wrong and they want to give an excuse as to why they did it without taking responsibility for their own actions. There are no acceptable excuses when it comes to personal responsibility.
God deals with personal responsibility in Exodus 21. God uses several illustrations to talk about four different areas where people have no excuse. God is teaching us that we are responsible in these four areas of life. Claiming ignorance is not acceptable to God. God expects you to know better in these four areas and to be sure that you are in control of your being and possessions. Let me show you these four areas.
First, you are responsible for your actions. God is very plain that you are to be under control. God dealt with this subject by using murder and thievery as His illustrations. God wants you to understand that you are responsible for every action you perform. If you do wrong, then you should pay for it. It doesn’t matter what someone else did to you, it only matters how you act. You cannot control what others do, but you can control what you do.
Second, you are responsible for your attitude. Throughout this chapter, you see God using people who get into disagreements and responding out of anger. You are ultimately responsible for keeping your attitude under control. You may get angry, but you are to control that anger. A Christian who is not in control of their own disposition or attitude is a Christian who hurts their own testimony and the testimony of the name of Christ. God’s simply teaching that there are no excuses for an attitude that is out of control.
Third, you are responsible for your possessions. Again, God talks about a man who has an ox that would get loose and hurt another person. That man was responsible for that ox. Likewise, you are responsible for everything you own. You are responsible to take care of your possessions so that they can’t hurt others. If you can’t take care of your possessions so that they can’t hurt others, then you need to get rid of them.
Fourth, you are responsible for your knowledge. Ignorance is no excuse. When someone tells you that something you own is going to hurt someone, then you are responsible to make sure that it doesn’t. Burying your head in the sand is no excuse. You are to listen to others even if you think others are just being petty.
Friend, the name of Christ is at stake in these four areas. All it takes is for you to mess up in one of these areas and the world will use it as their ammunition to slander the name of Christ. Be sure to take responsibility in these four areas of your life so that the name of Christ is not marred by your lack of responsibility.