was a comment I made in a previous post. And it struck me anew just how accurate that is. However, accuracy has nothing to do with personally accepting that point. How many people do you know that seem to just abrogate this? And even more frustrating… seem to get away with it. Yes? My only reply is a lame but true – that’s not your concern. You are your concern. And not to put too fine a point on it, you haven’t walked in their shoes so you really don’t know their reality. Besides… how much value is there in judging someone?
This point is the companion to another truth that I repeat often – you are responsible for what you know. It is totally impossible to un-know. How you handle your knowing including what you ‘do’ with it is a character point. Intentionality is also part of this responsibility. And whether or not we ‘like’ this has nothing to do with this being OUR responsibility. Not acting on what you know can be done, but to what end? What do you accomplish by denying you know something? You know you know.
Are you the expert in someone else’s life? Are you their conscience? Do you have the wisdom they need? It is undeniably easier to focus on the ‘speck in your brother’s eye than it is the plank that’s in your own’ (Matthew 7:3-4). Problem is that your brother may extract his speck but unless you do something about your own issue, you still have your plank. Another way to look at this is, if you were the one with the speck would you want someone else who had a plank remove your speck? Obviously not.
However… being responsible for ourselves can be both liberating as well as defining. As we learn and grow and interact with others, we have a marvelous opportunity. And while I have been focusing on we being our responsibility, that is not in isolation. Yes we do have responsibilities to and for others. But, we don’t have the option of making their choices. They must do this for themselves as we must for ourselves. This does not limit our sharing the truth we know and have discovered and hearing theirs – but we can’t impose or force. As we focus and act on our own responsibility we model what we are and believe.
… but, what do you believe?
