Years ago one of the newspaper advise
givers—Dear Abby or Ann Landers . . . which of the two
sisters, I don’t know . . . gave some advice to a reader that I still have not
figured out how a person of faith or ethical standards could accept and carry
out. It started with a letter. The reader wrote that she had gone to a store
and made a purchase. Upon paying for the
purchase the reader noticed when she got home that she was given more change
back than the item was worth. Her
question was whether or not she “had”
to go back and fix the mistake.
Whichever of the two sisters answered:
NO! No, she did not have to go back and
correct the mistake. She did not have to
go back and correct the mistake because it was not her fault . . . just keep
the money and go on. The cashier should
have been doing his or her job correctly . . . it is their problem.
Now that advice has bothered me for
years. More often than not, when the
cashier has to close out his or her register someone has to make up the
difference if there is a shortage in the till.
Typically it is going to be the cashier who pays the price . . . either
in making up the difference out of pocket or losing a job. Being a person of faith and what I consider
to a somewhat ethical person, I think that if I had caught the mistake I would
have to go back and make it right . . . I would have to go back and give the
money back. It would be my
responsibility.
Responsibility has three definitions:
the state of being the person who caused something to happen; a duty or task
that you are required or expected to do; and, something that you should do
because it is morally right or legally required. (Mirriam-Webster Dictionary) In the case of the overpaid customer she
should have done what was expected based on morals or even legal standards to
keep the cashier from losing his or her job . . . she should have returned the
money. But, instead, she finds an excuse
and is given permission from those advise dispensers—Abby and Ann—to ignore her
responsibility. It wasn’t her
fault. She is not the one who screwed
up.
One of my favorite “parenting”
scriptures is the story of the fall of Adam and Eve . . . the “Temptation
Story”. We all know it. God creates humans—male and female . . .
names them Adam and Eve. God puts them
in paradise where they have everything that they would ever need. Tells them to enjoy it all . . . but, God
tells them that they are not to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. Then God goes off to take care of some business
and leaves them alone in the garden.
Along comes a serpent . . . a wily
creature . . . a trickster sort of a character . . . who strikes up a
conversation with Eve. In the course of
the conversation the serpent convinces Eve that it is okay for her to eat of
the forbidden fruit . . . convinces her that she isn’t going to die from eating
the fruit. Well, since the fruit looked
so delicious and enticing, she goes for it . . . she eats the fruit. It was so good she makes Adam eat some too.
In life there are always consequences
to actions. The consequence to Adam and
Eve eating the forbidden fruit was that it opened up their eyes . . . suddenly
they knew good and bad, right and wrong, and had developed a conscious. They looked at each other, saw that they were
naked, and immediately went about making some clothes out of fig leaves to
cover up.
Later in the evening they heard the
footsteps of God as God was taking a stroll through the garden. Now having a conscious the two of them
immediately went into hiding because they did not want God to see them naked .
. . I think it was because they knew that they had done something wrong. Whatever the case, they were hiding from God.
When God demands to see the two of
them . . . the real fun begins. This is
the part I think every person who has ever dealt with kids knows by heart. Adams explains that they were hiding because
they were naked. God wants to know who
told them they were naked . . . then it dawns on God that they must have eaten
the forbidden fruit, so God wants to know whether or not they have done what
they were told not to do. Adam claims
that it was not his fault because Eve made him eat the fruit. Eve then empathically states that it was not
her fault because the serpent tricked her into eating the fruit. The serpent started to look around for someone
to blame but could find no one and thus caught the consequences for getting the
whole thing going in the first place.
Needless to say, God was not pleased
with any of them. True the serpent got
punished . . . lost its legs, had to slither around on its belly for the rest
of eternity . . . became a snake that would be scary to people and would end up
getting crushed by those humans. Adam
and Eve got banished from the good and easy life of the garden . . . now they
had to work for everything . . . and, Eve would have a painful reminder of her
choice to eat the fruit whenever she gave birth. Because none of them would take
responsibility for their actions they all reaped the consequences.
How good are any of us in taking
“responsibility” when it comes to following the will of God in our lives? I guess it depends on who you ask. If you go with what is written in the
newspapers and broadcasted on television or the radio, we Christians are not
doing so well. It would seem that most
of society does not have a favorable view of Christians . . . most often
Christians are seen in the category of hypocrites. But, rejoice, we have our excuses.
First of all, we are sinners. Sinners screw up. Sinners make mistakes. Everyone does it . . . besides, God will
forgive us. Isn’t that why God sent
Jesus . . . to forgive us of our sins?
The problem with this is that once the sin has been pointed out to us we
are not supposed to keep doing it.
Another one is that whatever we are
doing we have convinced ourselves that it has nothing to do with our faith . .
. it is just business as usual. Everyone
does it because that is the way that business is done. Fine and dandy for those who are following
Wall Street’s example, but is it the way that Jesus would do it?
Then there is the excuse of “it isn’t
illegal”. True . . . what the reader who
wanted to know about being overpaid ended up doing was not illegal . . . she
did not break any law; but, was it right?
Was it the way that Jesus would have treated people? Just because it is not illegal does not make
it right.
Some use the old “eye for eye”
excuse. People do what they do because
that is the way that others have treated them . . . it only seems fair because
we are treating them the way they treated us.
One of my favorites is that “we were
just doing what everyone else was doing”.
When in Rome do as the Romans do.
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
Besides, we are not in church!
Still an excuse for not taking responsibility for one’s own actions and
choices.
You would think, after hearing the
story of Adam and Eve, that nothing escapes the eyes of God. You would also think, after hearing what
happened to them for the choice that they made, that there is no escaping the consequences
of that choice. The consequences are
eventually going to catch up . . . maybe not today or tomorrow, but eventually
they are going to return and bite us in the rear end. And, you would think, from hearing the story
that we would learn that God doesn’t like excuses. God wants us to take responsibility.
In fact, God placed the responsibility
squarely on our shoulders to deal with . . . God left us with the ability to
make the choices. We can either do the
will of God . . . follow in the example and footsteps of Jesus . . . or, we can
do whatever we want because we have excuses.
It is not our fault. At least
that is what we want to believe . . . the devil made me do! In the eyes of God, and in our hearts, we
know that this is hogwash. If it is our
choice, then it is our responsibility.
That is the gift of “free will” that we have been blessed with by God. That is the freedom we have.
When it comes to our faith and
spiritual journey, we have to take responsibility for ourselves and the choices
that we make . . . good or bad . . . because it is our choice, our
decisions. There is no one to blame . .
. no one to point fingers at . . . no excuses.
It is our choice. Amen.
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