A Need for Accountability: Stop Making Excuses!

As I am gracelessly slipping into this thing called adulthood, I am beginning to realize a couple of things.

 

One of the things I notice about the culture that I am growing up in is that no one wants to take responsibility.

 

Oh, Hillary lied again.

That's just what politicians do.

 

Ryan Lochte gets drunk and destroys property.

Oh, boys will be boys.

 

Gabby Douglas gets bullied on social media.

She needs to grow a thicker skin or else get off social media.

 

Really?

 

Where is the accountability? Where is the sense of right and wrong?

 

People like to blame others, dodge the truth, and make excuses. In reality though, the people are the culture. It is our fault that these things are becoming acceptable.

 

One of the things I hear a lot in churches is that people like to blame the leaders of the church for not reaching the lost, not standing up for the broken, not doing this, that, and the other. Thing is, the leaders are not the church. The Christians as a whole are the church. Yes, the church leaders need to be wise in their decisions but the people of God definitely can do something.

 

Why are the people not reaching out to the lost? Why are the people standing by the broken? Why are the people making excuses?

 

This is the same in politics and in society as a whole. Yes, good and bad leaders influence the people but the people ultimately make the choice.

 

There is this awesome quote by Edmund Burke that says,

 

"The only thing necessary for evil to win is that good men do nothing."

 

Yes, we could sit here and blame others. We could wallow in our own hurt and pain and what others have done against us. We could say, "Well I am only one voice, so what will it matter?" We could remain silent. It would be easier and less painful. It would be normal.

 

Thing is, when God called us, He didn't call us to follow the world. He called us to follow Him.

 

James 4:17 says, "Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it."

 

In the movie God's Not Dead 2, the main character says when asked why she just won't sign a plea bargain apologizing for her belief in Jesus Christ, "I would rather stand with God and be judged by the world than stand with the world and be judged by God."

 

It's time for the people of God to stop taking sin lightly. It's time for the people of God to come alongside the broken and hurting instead of wallowing and blaming everyone else. It's time for the people of God to stop making excuses.

 

We are called to be a "light in the darkness" and a "city on a hill." What are we waiting for?