Personal Responsibility

June 25

2 Kings 13-14

Psalm 74:18-23

Proverbs 16:20-21

Acts 20

Personal Responsibility

“In the seventh year of Jehu, Joash became king and reigned forty years in Jerusalem. Throughout the time Jehoiada the priest instructed him, Joash did what was right in the Lord’s sight.” 2 Kings 12:1-2 HCSB

“In the twenty-third year of Judah’s king Joash son of Ahaziah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu became king over Israel in Samaria and reigned seventeen years. He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight and followed the sins that Jeroboam son of Nebat had caused Israel to commit. In the thirty-seventh year of Judah’s King Joash, Jehoash son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel and reigned sixteen years. He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.”

2 Kings 13:1-2, 10-11 HCSB

During the period of the kings during the divided kingdom in Israel there were twenty kings of Judah and nineteen Kings of Israel. Every one of the kings of Israel were described as doing evil in the Lord’s sight. In Judah, eight of the kings were described as doing what was right in the Lord’s sight and twelve did evil in the Lord’s sight. We find the accounts of these kings in 1 and 2 Kings. The biblical accounts lay them out together chronologically, but it is interesting to see a list of them by kingdom. In Judah, the good and bad kings are dispersed throughout their history. Often the good kings had sons who followed them who were wicked and did not follow God. But there were also bad kings who were followed by sons that were good kings. This reinforces the idea of personal responsibility. While it is extremely important for Christian parents to teach their children about Jesus and to raise them in a home where God is exalted and Scripture is esteemed as truth, we cannot accept Jesus for them. Each of us must decide individually what place we will allow Jesus to have in our lives. Having godly parents and grandparents doesn’t get you into Heaven. Having people praying for you every day doesn’t get you a ticket to salvation. No matter how much we may want to force our children to believe, that isn’t how it works. We have a responsibility to provide the right conditions for them to hear, but ultimately, they must make the decision for themselves. We can do all the right things and they may choose to do evil in the Lord’s sight. Our job is to teach them consistently and diligently and then pray for them.

On the other hand, it is encouraging that we are not bound by our parents’ choices. We may have been raised by parents who did not follow God and who did not lead us to Jesus. We can break the cycle of evil. We can choose to accept Jesus and follow Him in doing good in the Lord’s sight. We each get to decide for ourselves the life we choose. We are not held accountable for our ancestor’s bad choices, but we cannot rely on their good ones either.