Scripture In Hebrews 13:8 says,
"Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever".
Jesus is the same in power in purpose and passion. His power has not decreased in any way. This means in all our endeavors, God is a constant factor, and we are the variables. Everything God has said, he has never change, if he is the healer yesterday, he is still the healer today, even till tomorrow his continues to be! Whatever he has done before, he can still do it today.
If God has beautified your life before, he can still do it again. If he took Daniel, a slave on a strange land to the top, making him to be preferred above others, he can still do it again. He can take you also to the top. Your attitude must be, whatever God has done before, he can still do it again. Human beings can have the power to do something at one time and lack the power to do it again, but not our God.
However, all the people that God beautified their lives and made them great on all sides have experienced him on one condition, they accepted responsibility. The capital condition for beauty is accepting responsibility. The beauty is not free because somebody paid for it; hence to access it, you also need to accept responsibility. If you are born again, you have a destiny of glory and greatness - Romans 8:28-30.
You have a destiny of beauty, but it will not come automatically until you have accepted responsibility. For instance, no pastor experiences his desired beauty of Church growth until he has accepted the responsibility of taking some time off to pray passionately. The same it is with anyone who desires beauty in one way or the other, you must accept the responsibility of whatever you want. Beauty does not jump on people; every one with beauty accepted responsibility for what they have. May one not continue to wish, and not accepting responsibility; remember, someone says,
"If wishes were horses, even beggars will ride".
If you do what others do to make them great, you can not but end up in greatness too, unless God is partial, but far be it that the almighty is partial.
God says concerning our future,
"I know the thought that I think toward you saith the Lord, Thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you a future and a hope".
The scripture gives a Christian hope that, he has a goodly heritage and a bright future, but these come by responsibilities. All Christians have a great future, but not all of them eventually enjoy it, some sleep (died) without experiencing the great future. Why? It is simply because they refused to accept responsibility. Only those who accept responsibility realize their glorious future. Hence accepting responsibility is a key to a glorious future.
What Does It Mean To Accept Responsibility?
1. It means doing your duty to God and man as it is expected of you without thinking that you have done anything special.
2. It means not expecting any one to do your duty in God for you.
3. It means not blaming anyone for your mistakes and errors - taking personal responsibility for all your mistakes. Some one said "You are not a failure until you have looked for some one to blame for it". Accepting responsibility therefore means identifying our roles in God's house, at home and at other places and doing it with delight. There are responsibilities for all the blessings in scripture - prosperity, divine health/ healing, fruitfulness, favor etc, you will only enjoy the one you accept responsibility for.
In Lamentation 3:26, scripture says,
"It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth".
That means, to accept responsibility right from the youth is good because it will make you to enjoy your old age. Remember that old adage "If you want to be under a shade at old age, you must plant a tree now". People who don't accept responsibility end up as liability. As a man, it is your responsibility to provide for your family, don't blame the country or the economy, because others in the same country with the same economy are still providing for their family, you only need to accept responsibility. Small men blame other people for their problems; but great men find the way out. As a woman it is your responsibility to help and support your husband. It is dangerous for you as a young person to waste your youth; your youthful days are days of investment.
There are two parts of responsibility - one is the spiritual and the other is physical, both are important for our greatness, and we must make a balance between them; not accepting one at the expense of the other. Jesus met the needs of people both spiritually and physically. He fed them with God's word which is spiritual and he did same by multiplying five loafs and two fishes, that fed five thousand men. Many of us are alive to our physical responsibilities but are lagging behind in our spiritual investment into our lives and that of our family members. It is when we do the two that our spiritual color will truly emerge.
Our spiritual responsibility to Christ is to bear fruits - John 15:16. You are irresponsible to him if you do not bear fruit. Are you an usher or a sanctuary keeper? that is good, but bearing fruits really means producing another Christian by way of soul winning. In John 15:16, your beauty is guaranteed as you accept the responsibility of bearing fruit (soul winning).
Enemies That Prevent People From Accepting Responsibility.
Waste of time: Among others, one vital enemy of responsibility is waste of time. There are Christians that spend their time, and there are those that invest theirs. The time investors are the once that have accepted responsibility. To spend time is to do unproductive things - staying indoor and gossiping, roaming the house without doing anything meaningful, over-sleeping etc. Take note of this, one can be busy doing nothing, activity does not equal productivity.
Accept the responsibility of soul winning, it is a very good way to expedite your glorious destiny. The size of the company you work for determines the size of your pay. You can't work for God and be paid trash. In Luke 19:12-26, Jesus illustrated how we are given responsibilities; we saw how those that accepted responsibility were rewarded; and the one who was irresponsible (verse 22) was called wicked.
Shalom!