Our individual responsibility
- Jacob Ninan
Each of us is an individual creation of God. He loves us and deals with us directly and personally just as if we were His only child. He plans for us, teaches us, trains us, leads us, disciplines us, and moulds us into His nature as if the whole world was created just for us. He causes everything else - people and circumstances - to work together for our good (Ro.8:28). But in the end, He requires each of us to give an account of ourselves individually to Him (Ro.14:12).
Even though we are a part of a family, church, society, etc., we are responsible to God for our own lives. We make the choices, and we reap the fruit (Ga.6:7). We receive much from others, but then we have to make our own decisions according to the will of God. In the end we cannot blame others, but bear our own responsibility.
Does this mean that we should become independent of others? No. There is a place for listening to counsel and submitting to those who have authority over us. But we must remember that if we are men-pleasers, we cannot serve God (Ga.1:10). Let us not just drift along with the crowd, but think for ourselves what God would have us to do. Let us be those who will have our own convictions. Let it be very clear in our mind that our ultimate aim is to do God's will and to glorify Him, and not to have our own way.