Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
James 4:17
We are responsible for what we know:
And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself,
neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes,
shall be beaten with few stripes.
For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required:
and to whom men have committed much,
of him they will ask the more. Luke 12:47-48
When we choose to follow Jesus, we are agreeing to leave the world behind
The more we search for the treasure, the more we find it
Moses was held accountable when he struck the rock twice
when instead, God told him to speak to the rock
And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not,
to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not
bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. Numbers 20:12
In fact, that kept him from entering the promised land,
that he had been working toward, leading the people of Israel to for 40 years
He knew better, he did it anyway
We all have to take seriously the knowledge God gives us and teaches us
Ye shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you:
ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. Deuteronomy 5:32
When King Josiah was granted the Kingdom, he read the word of the Lord
and he had the people hear what he learned
Those words had been avoided and ignored
Many kings before him had refused their responsibility
He accepted the words that were written
and made great changes in his kingdom
And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the Lord,
to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies
and His statutes with all their heart and all their soul,
to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book.
And all the people stood to the covenant. 2 Kings 23:3
And like unto him was there no king before him,
that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul,
and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses;
neither after him arose there any like him. 2 Kings 23:25
We all have a kingdom, so-to-speak, a portion in life we are responsible for,
a jurisdiction of influence in our lives and perhaps others around us
Our responsibility is obedience for all that we know
Many of the saints throughout the bible responded well to God’s instructions
Some did not and they suffered consequences
for not doing what they knew God was asking them to do
If you don’t hear from God, don’t read His word, don’t find out from Him
what He would like you to do, that also is a responsibility,
so we can’t just say, I won’t learn much, then I’ll be less responsible
God knows all of our thoughts and intentions and we will be responsible for those
There is really no way to avoid responsibility before the Lord
That will only occur when God determines the person was not responsible,
and in His grace, He may overlook it or forgive the irresponsibility,
when we bring something before His altar in true repentance
What is your responsibility?
No human can tell you
It is your responsibility to seek the Lord about your responsibility
A complex idea that is actually quite simple