The Ability To Respond
“Each person must be
responsible for himself.” Galatians 6:5
Justice Lewis
Brandais, one of the Supreme Court Justices, once said, "Responsibility is
the great developer." It builds your
character. It's what helps you
grow. Churchill called it, "The
price of greatness." If you want to do something great with your life you
have to become a responsible person.
Rick Warren once
said, “If I were to ask you today, ‘What's your greatest ability?’ I wonder
what some of you would say.” You
might say, I'm good at mechanics ... math ... sewing ... surfing ... channel
surfing. But I want to suggest to you
this morning that your greatest ability is response-ability. Responsibility is the ability to respond to
life. It's one of the greatest gifts
that God has given you. God created you
and made you a human being. What makes
you a human is the ability to choose your response to life. You can respond in
many different ways to stress, problems, crises, opportunities, relationships. It's all your choice.
In John
Maxwell’s book, Failing Forward, he shares a story about Roger
Crawford. He’s about forty years old. He makes
his living as a consultant and public speaker. He has written two books and
travels all across the country working for Fortune 500 companies, national and
state associations, and school
districts.
Those aren’t bad credentials. But if they don’t impress you, how about this? Before
becoming a consultant, he was a varsity tennis player for Loyola Marymount
University and later
became a professional tennis player certified by the United States Professional
Tennis Association. Still not impressed? Would you change your opinion if I
told you Roger has no hands and only one foot?
Roger Crawford was born with a
condition called ectrodactylism. When he emerged from his mother’s womb, the
doctors saw that he had a thumblike projection extending out of his right
forearm, and a thumb and finger growing out of his left forearm. He had no palms.
His legs and arms were shortened. And
his left leg possessed a shrunken foot with only three toes. (The foot was
amputated when he was five). Roger’s parents were determined to give him the
best chance possible for living a normal life.
They raised him to feel loved, to be
strong, and to develop independence.
His father said, “You’re only as handicapped as you want to be." When he
was old enough, they sent him to regular public schools. They involved him in sports. They encouraged
him to do everything his heart desired. And they taught him to think
positively. He said, "Something my parents never did was to allow me to
feel sorry for myself, or to take advantage of people because of my
handicap.”
Roger appreciated the encouragement and
training he received from
his parents, but I don’t think he
really understood the significance or the extent of his achievements until he
was in college and he interacted with someone who wanted to meet him.
He had received a phone call from a man who had read about his tennis
victories, and Roger agreed to meet him at a nearby restaurant. When Roger
stood to shake hands with the man, he discovered that the other guy had hands
that were almost identical to his. Roger became excited because he thought he
had found someone similar to himself, but older, who could act as a mentor. But
after talking with the stranger for a few minutes, he realized he was wrong.
Roger explains, "Instead, what I found was someone with a bitter,
pessimistic attitude who blamed all of life’s disappointments and failures on
his anatomy. I soon recognized that our
lives and attitudes couldn’t have been more different He had never held a job for long, and he was
sure this was because of ’discrimination’ - certainly not because (as he
admitted) he was constantly late, frequently absent, and failed to take any
responsibility for his work. His attitude was, "The world owes me,"
and his problem was that the world disagreed. He was even angry with me because
I didn’t share his despair.
We kept in touch for several years,
until it dawned on me that even if some miracle were suddenly to give him a
perfect body, his unhappiness and lack of success wouldn’t change. He would still be at the same place in his life.
Roger maintains, "Handicaps can only disable us if we let them. This is
true not only
of physical challenges, but of emotional and intellectual
ones as well
… I believe that real and lasting limitations are created in our minds, not our
bodies." Someone once said, “Don’t
ever have a pity party because no one comes and you never get presents.”
The way that you
start building the pillars of your life toward a successful and a significant
life begins with personal responsibility.
This is the foundation, ground zero, the bottom line. If you don't get this one, you will miss a
major part of a championship life. This is what it all starts with. If I get that point down then the rest can be
built in a successful and significant life.
It's very obvious
that in the last forty years there's been a dramatic decline in the acceptance
of personal responsibility in our society.
Nobody wants to accept responsibility for anything anymore. In fact, we want to accuse and excuse. We want to accuse other people -- it's all
their fault -- and we want to excuse ourselves -- it's not my fault. We live in this blaming and accusing and
excusing society where nobody wants to own up to anything. What causes that? What's happened in our society? There are
three threats we must counter:
1) The first
threat to responsibility is the "entitlement" mentality. It is the antithesis to personal
responsibility. The entitlement
mentality basically says, I deserve it.
2) The second
block to responsibility is the rights mentality which basically goes like this: "I have my
rights! and that's all I'm interested in."
3) The last enemy
to responsibility is what I call the victim mentality. The victim mentality basically goes like
this. "None of my problems are my
fault. In fact, they're all your
fault."
While these threats
stand as ominous opponents to a victorious life, we can find victory. The key to living a conquerors life is to
live a more responsible life. The first
step is giving your life to Christ and letting Him lead you each step of the
way. We have the ability to respond to
Him each day.
Terry
Risser
Reflections:
1) How has
responsibility been important or a struggle for you?
2) Which of the
three threats tends to be the greatest challenge?
Consider reading the Word today:
Copyright 2014- Terry Risser
