Responsibility by George D. Ballou

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 31, 1882

Responsibility.

By George D. Ballou

BY ELD. G. D. BALLOU.

OPPORTUNITY is the measure of responsibility. The privileges that surround us, and how we have used them, will determine the degree of our guilt or innocence, in the Judgment. Men sometimes seem to think that they will have to answer only for those privileges which they have used, and that the opportunities for good which they have let slip will have no weight in the decision of their cases. In other words, they seem to think that they will be judged only by what they have actually done, and not by what they have failed to do. Those who stop to think must readily perceive that the principles of justice demand that both these elements must enter as prime factors into the decision of all cases.

One of the greatest moral obligations that devolves upon men is the duty to take advantage, as far as possible, of every opportunity that is presented for moral and intellectual improvement. A failure to do this is a crime, not only against one's self, but against society and against God. The moral relations we sustain to God and our fellows demand of us that we should make the very best use of all our powers, spiritual, intellectual, and physical.

It is a crime for a man to shut his eyes and go on in ignorance. No man has a moral right to be only half developed, especially in his knowledge of spiritual things. No one can hope to escape responsibility by shutting his eyes against light, simply because he fears it will necessitate some change of action on his part.

Suppose a new law were made against fishing at a certain season, and some old sportsman who had a special love for angling should persistently refuse to read the law or hear it read or be informed as to its import. When that individual was brought before the court for violation of the law, do you think he would be excused on the ground of ignorance? Would not the court be inclined to make an example of his case by imposing upon him the full penalty of the law? And is not God as particular in carrying out the principles of justice as men? Then what will be the fate of those who are "willingly ignorant" of the truth that we are now in the "last days," as attested by the signs given by our Lord himself? What, in the final Judgment, will be the fate of those who turn away from hearing the law, and "hide their eyes" from the Sabbath of the Lord; or of those who, seeing the truth, refuse to obey it because it will cause them inconvenience? Their condition is fitly represented by the man in the parable, who had not on the wedding garment. Truly, the ease they now gain by shunning responsibility will not compensate for the suffering that will come by and by.

How much wiser, then, to gladly accept responsibilities and make the most of them, looking beyond into the kingdom of God for a full reward for all our toil and cross-bearing. There are broader fields of thought and higher planes of action before us if we will cheerfully go forward. But rest assured that every new height of advancement attained will cost a struggle of heart and mind against opposing desires and influences. A pang of self-denial will precede every victory we gain in the struggle against error and sin.

The quality which humanity most needs to aid them in their upward toiling, is a keener moral perception, a more refined moral sensibility. Then it will be easier to appreciate our responsibilities, and we shall advance in the ways of truth with less care for the applause of men, and more for the approval of God. Then we shall care less for reputation and more for character.