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Open Heavens Rev Dr Sarah Nyathi
GENESIS 2:15-20
“And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend, guard and keep it.
And the Lord commanded the man saying, you may freely eat of every tree of the garden;

But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, blessing and calamity you shall not eat; for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die”.

And Adam gave names to all the livestock and to the birds of the air and to every (wild) beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper meet (suitable, adapted, complementary) for him.

Genesis 3:12-13
And the man said, “the woman whom you gave to be with me. She gave me (fruit) from the tree, and I ate”.

And the Lord God said to the woman, “what is this you have done”? And the woman said, “the serpent beguiled (cheated, outwitted and deceived) me and I ate”.

Proverbs 6:6-8
“Go to the ant, you sluggard, consider her ways and be wise.

Which having no chief, overseer or ruler, provides her food in the summer and gathers her supplies in the harvest.”

In the last article we defined responsibility and accountability. We noted that responsibility was defined as taking care of your duties, answering to your actions, being accountable and above all being trustworthy. Accountability is answering to somebody else for your actions or whereabouts.

In addition to the two forms of responsibility that we examined in the last article, human responsibility and religious responsibility, we will for the purposes of this article discuss personal responsibility.

Frank Williams states that “man is still responsible. His success lies not with the stars but himself”. The great Winston Churchill also understood that “the price of greatness is responsibility”. I am sure both of these men must have possessed high levels of personal responsibility.

It is my contention that it is our personal responsibility to ensure that we become persons of good character. Our parents, leaders, teachers, mentors, spouses can only assist us and in some instances provide guidance. Ultimately we determine the type of person that we become. We can choose to cultivate our personal responsibility or we can remain irresponsible and bear the brunt of the consequences of such decisions.

Your levels of personal responsibility have contributed to the current state of your life. I have come across individuals in lamentable positions and rather than accept personal responsibility for their actions they blame the world. Blaming your parents, background, spouse or the government will not improve your position. Lack of personal responsibility manifests itself in numerous ways and I will tabulate just a few, underachievement, poor financial management, poor time management, unhealthy relationships (marital, family, social, spiritual), and in some instances poor health.

I would like to discuss in depth how lack of personal responsibility can be reflected in our time management. Jeff Olson in his book “The Slight Edge” (2005) makes some profound statements about time. Jeff Olson states “Time cannot be fooled, it is the great revealer. What may be hidden now will be revealed by time”. What Olson is emphasising is the need for us to be responsible in the use of our time. How you use your time will determine your future. Time cannot be fooled, you can fool some of the people all of the time, but time cannot be fooled. It will inevitably and ruthlessly reveal whether you have been a good steward of time or not. However, our irresponsibility with regard to time management can have grave consequences on our future and ultimately on our lifetime achievements. I would imagine that none of us wishes to be viewed as a loser or underachiever.

Mike Murdock a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ who pens life-changing nuggets of wisdom also points out “that time is the currency we have been given on earth”. Logic would dictate that if time is the currency that we have been given during our sojourn on earth that we use and invest it wisely much as we would do financially currency. The scriptures confirm this view point in Colossians 4:5 “walk in wisdom to them that are without, redeeming the time”.

Understanding the nature of time will foster increased levels of personal responsibility. We are all aware that every person has twenty four hours a day, 8,760 hours a year. Time cannot be stored, bought or sold for use at a more convenient time. These hours are filled with a sequence of little tasks and actions any one of which is seemingly insignificant. None of these tasks are as insignificant as we think as they contribute to our overall success or failure in life.

It is worth noting that “Gold medal marathon runners eat and sleep. So do people who are thirty pounds weight. Successful entrepreneurs think and feel and have relationships with other people. So do those who are unemployed or even living on the streets. People who make lots of money read books.

People who are broke read books too. Winners and losers both do the same basic things in their lives, day in and day out. Yet the things winners do take them to the top, while the things losers do take them down and out. So what is the difference? The difference is their awareness, understanding and use of the slight edge in their life and work (Jeff Olson 2005).”

The slight edge in my estimation is responsibility in the use of our time on a daily basis. It is a fact of life that irresponsible people never live to their full potential.

Jesus Christ was only given three years in which to minister and fulfil his God-given mandate to die on the cross for the salvation of mankind and to build a team that would take the gospel to every corner of the globe. It is my firm belief that Jesus was a man of integrity and took His personal responsibility seriously thus achieving a lifetime of work in three years. That we would learn from His sterling example.

We can also demonstrate personal responsibility by working on these issues:-

•  Taking good care of our personal possessions (immovable assets, vehicles, and smaller items such as clothing, jewellery etc.).
• Informing family, work mates about your whereabouts, keeping promises and appointments.

Maintaining good health by not consuming substances or foods that are hazardous to our health and wellbeing.

•  Returning property that does not belong to you (coats, jackets borrowed on a chilly evening and not returned to their rightful owners), CDs, library books, DVDs that are in our shelves that do not belong to us.
•  Completing work, school, university, and Bible School assignments on time.

Another area of irresponsibility that has afflicted us sorely in Zimbabwe is the area of financial indiscipline. We have demonstrated such levels of irresponsibility that some believe they are cursed and some sinister, evil forces have been assigned to ensure our ruin. This is one of the reasons why bogus prophets are flourishing as people flock to them to seek solutions to their financial woes. Whilst I do not wish to trivialise genuine financial problems that people find themselves in, I contend that there are people who would do well to exercise a little responsibility and discipline with regard to their finances. This would apply to people who hold stable jobs and have regular inflows of income. Responsibility in terms of budgeting, savings, no matter how small and increased financial literacy would improve the situation, without elaborate, costly prophecies and associated fetishes which the individual can ill afford. Avoiding the temptation of amassing additional wives and families would also alleviate some of these problems. In this case I will excuse the unemployed and those who are paid wages/salaries intermittently, and this is prevalent these days. Those in this category are free to wisely select and employ genuine spiritual methods that will bring divine intervention into their situations.

Personal responsibility is also demonstrated in the way we take care of our gardens, the condition of our pets and garbage disposal. A good measure of your personal responsibility is exhibited in the condition of your garden, household pets and garbage disposal habits.

An unkempt garden, scrawny pet on the brink of starvation, litter strewn all over your home, office and vehicle are not a good sign. A quick assessment of the condition of these three will be an indication as to whether some improvements are necessary on your part. Remember let us be good stewards of our time, resources and relationships.

l Reverend Dr Sarah Nyathi is the co-founder of Harvest House International Churches, founder and President of Maximised Lifestyle International the women’s ministry of Harvest House International Churches which offers a holistic ministry to women encompassing the spirit, soul and body – “Building a balanced woman of excellence.”