When Ezekiel was laying out the list of sins God’s people were guilty of this phrase really caught my attention. “For you are thankless in addition to all your other faults” (Ezekiel 16:43, The Living Bible).
Wow! These folks had done a great deal to offend God. On top of all that they were thankless. They were a people without thankfulness. Reading this I immediately made it personal.
I have had my issues. I have made mistakes. I have made horrible decisions. I have violated the law of God. I have fallen short and sinned. In all of this I am grateful for grace, mercy, and forgiveness. In all of this I do not want to ever be thankless.
Thanklessness is the soil in which bitterness, entitlement, and scorn grows. A thankless person will always be the victim. A thankless person will withdraw within themselves. A thankless person will blame others, their circumstances, and what they believe is the short-straw of life they have drawn. They are not thankful for they have lost the art of gratefulness.
Ezekiel 18:19-22 makes clear that each person holds their own responsibility. Each person’s choices determine their fate. Your sin is your sin. The life you live is the life you choose. All choices have consequences. Each of us is the sum total of the choices we have made.
Personal responsibility may be the highest of all freedoms. However, many people want freedom without responsibility. We want to choose, but prefer to avoid the consequences. We want unencumbered choices without being held responsible for outcomes. The cry of ‘unfair’ is the card we play when our choices don’t go our way. Choice with outcomes blamed on anything, or anybody, but our choices, is a real life version of ‘Ollie, ollie oxen free’ in the game of tag.
People choose to take on debt, but then look to someone else to pay it off. It may have been a choice made, but it should not be ours to be responsible for. A lifestyle that negatively impacts me ought to be relived with as little discomfort to me as possible. No matter how guilty we may be, it is cruel for anyone else to make me own that guilt.
When we misunderstand the incredible freedom of personal responsibility we will live a thankless life. Personal responsibility allows us to be thankful for opportunity. It allows us to be thankful for the people around us. It reminds us that to be most thankful is to acknowledge that we did, and do, choose. We are responsible. We can rejoice in that freedom!