To be responsible means to care for or to have control over something. When I feel burdened by responsibilities, I’ve learned to ask: Who or what is making the demand? Who is in control? Who provides the responsible care? And what is my role in all this?
Who or what is making the demand?
I find my way easier when I acknowledge that Truth, a Bible name for God, is all that legitimately makes demands on us. Even when it appears that someone is asking or even demanding something of me, I see it as Truth uncovering some error in order for it to be corrected. Truth requires only what is true, and what is true is that God, good, is All-in-all. There is no other cause, Mind, or power. Because God made all, including you and me, we cannot include anything opposed to this good. And because good is spiritual, we must turn from the limited, physical senses to the spiritual facts of what really is, to discern the real demand upon us.
Who is in control?
God alone creates, governs, and controls man and the universe. The divine control is harmonious and peaceful. Human control, on the other hand, is discordant and illusory. Because we are really children of God, we naturally express God’s control, but we are not the ones in control. Man reflects divine control. We witness and respond to God’s control by letting our thought and actions be governed by God, who is divine Truth and Love.
Our responsibility includes our ability to respond to the needs of others.
Who provides the responsible care?
God is responsible for His creation—us and the world. He cares for all. The Apostle Peter wrote, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (I Peter 5:6, 7). Does this mean we have no responsibilities? This takes me to the fourth question.
What is my role in all this?
As Peter indicated in the quote above, we do have a role. We are to humble ourselves under God’s hand (God’s hand being a metaphor for His power). Humility is acknowledging and yielding to God, not just as a superior power, but as all power—the only power. True humility totally accepts that God is supreme and lets Truth and Love govern our thoughts and actions. The quote further states that we are to cast all our care on Him. That is, we are to trust God, to have complete faith in Him. By seeking God’s will, yielding to Him, and trusting Him, we discover God is always caring for us and providing the ideas that lead to harmonious solutions.
I like to think of the word responsibility as response and ability. We have the ability to respond to God, and doing so will arm us with the understanding and love we need to respond to situations. We respond to God’s love for us with our love for Him. As the Apostle John puts it: “We love him, because he first loved us” (I John 4:19).
What can be said of God’s love can also be said of, for example, His wisdom and inspiration. We respond to God’s wisdom by reflecting wisdom; we respond to God’s inspiration and light by expressing inspiration and light.
We also respond to God’s love by loving others. The Bible includes many examples of people helping others, so our role or responsibility includes our ability to respond to the needs of others, revealing how God is actually meeting their needs and caring for them. God made each of us in His own image and likeness as it states in Genesis 1. As His image, we reflect God’s caring through our caring. We respond to the needs of others, bringing to light how God is meeting those needs. This is an unburdened sense of being good. We are reflecting the action of divine Love.
I love Christ Jesus’ statement about his work: “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work” (John 5:17). God worked and Jesus responded to and expressed that work in his work. Since Jesus came to show us the way, we can think of our work in terms of responding to what God is doing. Ability is by reflection. God gives us the ability to respond to and be governed by Him.
This is illustrated by this lovely healing from the Bible: “And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever. And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them” (Matthew 8:14, 15). Doing God’s work, Jesus responded to the woman’s need. Then, consequently, she responded to the needs of the rest of the household as well as their guest.
Working in a church is an important facet of responding to the needs of others and the world. When I served as First Reader, I prayed each week to respond to what God was unfolding through ideas and inspiration, to meet the needs of the congregation and the community. I would endeavor to calm my thought and listen humbly for the ideas God provided.
The right idea of responsibility frees us from a burdensome and false sense of it.
These ideas would often come as passages from the Bible and Mary Baker Eddy’s writings, and sometimes even simple words that I would look up in those books. I would ask God, “What do You say? How does Christian Science unveil the spiritual solution to this issue?” I trusted God would care for me in my role as Reader and for the church congregation.
As I know has happened with other First Readers at various branch Churches of Christ, Scientist, often at the Wednesday testimony meetings someone in the congregation would share inspiration, an experience, or a healing based on what they had heard from the readings. In turn, what they shared elicited more sharing. And there were several times when someone mentioned they were healed during a Sunday service or Wednesday meeting.
We fulfill our God-given purpose by humbling ourselves under His power and taking His hand. We are never alone. God cares for us. He is responsible for us. The Discoverer of Christian Science, Mrs. Eddy, wrote: “God is responsible for the mission of those whom He has anointed. Those who know no will but His take His hand, and from the night He leads to light” (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 347).
Our ability to respond to God and what He is doing is our only true responsibility. We naturally respond to His love, wisdom, and inspiration. The right idea frees us from a burdensome and false sense of responsibility. Casting our care on God, we discern His perfect care for all.
