ACCOUNTABILITY…4/22/08
by SteveWe live in a day and age in which it is fashionable to blame others for the way we have turned out. There seems to be a constant parade of movie stars and other celebrities who are quick to blame their parents, or their teachers, or the crowd they hung out with, for the fact that their minds are so messed up now. Criminals who are brought to trial try to place the blame on everything and everybody but themselves.
We need more folks who are like President Harry Truman, who kept a little sign on his desk to remind him that “The Buck Stops Here.” Ezekiel reminded his people that “It is you who must bear the consequences of your sins.” There is no laying the blame on someone else. You and I are responsible, and we must give an account to God.
Now I want to say straight and up-front that I don’t know exactly how that “accounting” will transpire. Many people have guessed, some have assumed, but no one knows the details of the process. Biblical writers have used images of courts and bars of justice and trials, all of them trying to express what must be inexpressible. But my favorite image, and one that in all honesty I find very frightening, comes from a poem I can never forget:
There ain’t no throne, and there ain’t no books,
It’s Him you’ve got to see.
It’s him, just him, that is the judge of blokes
like you and me.
And boys, I sooner frizzle up
in the flames of a burnin’ hell,
Than stand and look into his face,
and hear his voice say, “Well?”
RSS
This ties in perfectly with yesterday’s piece on forgiveness. We’ve created a culture which is so eager to blame someone/something else for *any* failure, and at the same time so insistent on punishment, we’ve made it difficult to learn! Starting in school, you learn it’s expected you get things right the first time – you get punished, with lower grades, for being wrong. Yet I’ve never heard an accomplished musician who hasn’t made countless wrong notes, learning to play beautiful songs. If we, as a society, could be less quick to judge, and much quicker to forgive, I believe we’d have far fewer problems. Those who can look at themselves honestly, and say, “…that was wrong of me” have taken the first step to doing what’s correct. All too often though, we shift blame anywhere we can, trying to avoid those who are quick to judge, and quicker to punish. So few times does anyone say “…no, that’s wrong, let me help you make it right.” Yes, it’s a generalization. But we won’t be in a place to say “God help us!”, if He judges and forgives us, as we do each other.
Bj
Informative post. I’m glad I found it. Thanks again, Daryl