Being Responsible

Exodus 22

I think the word responsible gets misplaced in our society sometimes. If not misplaced at least it gets rejected. You read about people suing everyone over everything. Michael Jordan was sued for $832 million by a man who suffered emotional pain after being mistaken for the basketball star (found at http://www.newser.com/story/22074.html). You hear stories about criminals suing their victims. There was a man who broke into a house and broke some bone and sued the people that he tried to rob for the reason he got hurt. He actually won! You hear about people getting their cars dinged and dented by people backing up into them and driving away and not leaving a note or taking responsibility for their mistake. I don’t know how these crazy things happen but they do. It is because it is not passed on from their parents. I was at the grocery store as a little boy knocked something over and it broke. The mom just took the son and said, “Oh, great, now we need to leave.” They walked out of the store and did not tell anyone about what just happened. I had to go to tell someone that something got knocked down and needed to be cleaned up. I remember when I was living at home, my mom would stress that I needed to be responsible. Being responsible means that we a men and women of our actions. Being responsible is not only doing what you are supposed to be doing but it is also admitting your mistakes. In this section we continue with the law that God is giving Moses. Chapter 21 and 22 can be put together because the themes are connected.

The wrong done to someone else and to their property

In this chapter we read about if someone’s property gets destroyed or money lost because of someone’s negligence, there needs to be restitution. It is very important that the victim gets restored somehow for what they lost. God desires for the protection of the innocent. Today if we borrowed something from our friends and it breaks in our possession we can do several things. We can lie about breaking it. We can say it was broken before we even got it. We can hide the fact that we did not break it. We can tell the truth and admit that we broke it and offer to replace it. This would be the right thing to do.  

A Christian is one that is not only responsible with their actions and life but also admits their faults and when we borrow something and it breaks. I remember a time I borrowed something from a friend and it did break. I had to tell them that I broke what I borrowed and I wanted to replace it for them. Even though it was hard for me to admit that I broke it and tell them, I had to do it. My mother and father raised me that way and I’m thankful for it. If we do not admit our faults to others, sure we may not have to suffer financially at that time, or people look at us because we messed up, but this will only create bigger problems down the road.

Matthew 12:33 tells us that a tree is identified by their fruit and we our identified by our choices and being responsible. Even though it is not pretty to admit when we made a mistake but at least we are being responsible men and women. We want people to know that Christians are honest and are responsible even when the world is not. Proverbs 11:3 says, “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them. May we deal honestly with others and make restitution for those we have wronged.