{"id":1956,"date":"2016-03-31T01:25:25","date_gmt":"2016-03-31T06:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/focuspressblog.com\/?p=1956"},"modified":"2016-03-31T01:25:25","modified_gmt":"2016-03-31T06:25:25","slug":"man-woman-thats-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2016\/03\/31\/man-woman-thats-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Man Up (Or Woman Up, If That&#8217;s the Case)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">What started with \u201cthe dog ate my homework\u201d has morphed into some insane refusal for many to take responsibility. If a child receives a low grade at school it is not the child\u2019s fault, but rather the teacher\u2019s. If a young person acts up on a youth trip it is not the teen\u2019s fault, but rather the youth leader. If an employee receives a pink slip for not doing his or her job it\u2019s not the employee\u2019s fault, but rather the mean employer. Or if a driver receives a ticket for reckless driving because he or she was texting while driving, it is not their fault, but rather the mean police officer who was trying to reach his or her \u201cquota.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Take a minute and listen\u2014really listen\u2014to people today. People shun responsibility like the plague. Don\u2019t believe me? Shadow a parent for one day and listen to how many times the parent will stand up for his or her child, even if the child is blatantly at fault. It is almost sickening at how often (and how easy) we shirk responsibility and instead throw someone else under the bus.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Sadly, even Christians have embraced this worldly mentality. Surely their precious \u201cangels\u201d could not have done anything wrong. And certainly mom and dad are not to blame for anything. Thus the child grows up believing that the way to handle a problem is to blame someone else. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Imagine if Jonah refused to take responsibility. The seas were stormy and the men feared for their lives. The men had cast lots to determine who was at fault and it fell to Jonah. Then they said to him, \u201cPlease tell us! For whose cause <i>is<\/i> this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?\u201d (Jonah 1:8). They continued on by asking why he had done this? A modern-day Jonah would blame God for the storm. Or he would look for fault in the mariners. Or he might even go so far as to blame the ship builder for not building a sturdier boat that could withstand fierce storms. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">However, Jonah took responsibility: \u201cAnd he said to them, \u2018Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest <i>is<\/i> because of me\u2019\u201d (Jonah 1:12). <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">While many have become professional at deflecting blame or shifting attention to someone else, their tactics will not work with God. Paul wrote, \u201cBut why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. <b>\u00a0<\/b>For it is written: \u2018<i>As<\/i> I live, says the Lord,<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.\u2019 <b>So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.\u201d <\/b>(Romans 14:10-12, emp. added). On that great day it will not be the teacher\u2019s fault, the youth leader\u2019s fault, or the employer\u2019s fault. Rather, the Righteous Judge of the World, who knows all, will judge each according to his or her deeds.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Accepting blame means humbling yourself. It means recognizing you have many imperfections. It means, \u201cmanning\u201d up even in a culture that loves to blame everyone else. And while this may leave a bitter taste in the mouths of those who have perfected the art of blaming others, this is also one of the first steps in acknowledging you are a sinful creature in need of the blood of Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">A life of blaming others feeds a haughty spirit and causes us to not fully appreciate what Christ did for us on the cross. Commenting on this beautiful gift Paul wrote, For He made Him who knew no sin <i>to be<\/i> sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Can you imagine if Jesus had hung on the cross blaming you and me for each one of our sins? Instead, He shouldered our sin and gave us an example.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Responsibility is a hard lesson for many to learn. But better to teach our children responsibility on earth than to have their world rocked in heaven when they try\u2014unsuccessfully\u2014to shift responsibility on the Day of Judgment. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Be honest and ask yourself:<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Whose responsibility is it to train up your children?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Whose responsibility is it to go teach the lost?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Whose responsibility is it to work heartily, as for the Lord?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Whose responsibility is it to care for the widows and orphans?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Whose responsibility is it to care for widowed parents?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Isn\u2019t it time we, as Christians, set a different pattern than the world? Isn\u2019t it time we take responsibility?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>By Brad Harrub, Ph.D.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What started with \u201cthe dog ate my homework\u201d has morphed into some insane refusal for many to take responsibility. If a child receives a low grade at school it is not the child\u2019s fault, but rather the teacher\u2019s. If a young person acts up on a youth trip it is not the teen\u2019s fault, but [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1281,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,46,59,52],"tags":[774,145,270,573],"class_list":["post-1956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-children","category-christian-living","category-family","tag-blame","tag-brad","tag-families","tag-parenting","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Man Up (Or Woman Up, If That&#039;s the Case) - Focus Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2016\/03\/31\/man-woman-thats-case\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Man Up (Or Woman Up, If That&#039;s the Case) - Focus Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What started with \u201cthe dog ate my homework\u201d has morphed into some insane refusal for many to take responsibility. 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