Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Accepting Responsibility for Your Life

You are accountable for your own life. Good or bad, happy or unhappy, successful or unsuccessful, fair or unfair, you have to own it. That may not be how you want it to be, but that's how it is.

If you don't like your job --- you are responsible
If you don't like your relationships --- you are responsible
If you are overweight -- you are responsible
If you are not where you want to be -- you are responsible

If you don't accept responsibility for your life, you will misdiagnose every problem you have. If you misdiagnose, you will mistreat your problems. If you mistreat your problems things won't get better.

For example, if you believe your present state of affairs is someone else's fault, then you will spend all your time trying to fix or correct someone else instead of yourself! By convincing yourself that you are a victim, you guarantee yourself to have no progress, no healing, and no victory.

You will never fix yourself by blaming someone else for your cause-and-effect. That is for losers. No matter who you want to blame:

--You made the decision
--You said the words
--You copped the attitude
--You bought it
--You jumped ship
--You signed on the dotted line
--You bought it on your credit card
--You listened to what they had to say
--You opened the door
--You chose the feelings
--You quit
--You sold out your dreams
--You disobeyed
--You wanted to move
--You took the job
--You said yes
--You said no
--You ate it
--You smoked it
--You snorted it
--You believed it
--You drank it
--You ran
--You left
--You quit
--You started it
--You let him come back
--You married her
--You settled for it
--You let them talk you into it
--And you were the one who wanted that stupid dog!

Now own it. All of it.

You cannot change what you don't acknowledge. If you hope to have a better life, you have to be honest with yourself about where your life is right now and how you got there. Denial is destructive while confession brings healing and restoration. Your life is not too bad to fix - just be honest about what needs to be fixed. By looking into the Word of God it shows us what manner of person we really are; much like a mirror reflects our true image back to us (James 1:22-25). It's there that a true diagnosis can take place.

Make a deal with yourself right now:
--That you will not give in to negative momentum
--That you will require more of yourself
--That you will take the moral high ground
--That you will always trust Christ

You'll be the better for it.