Think about the fact that there was a time in your life when someone needed to change your diapers. For years. After you were born, you could do nothing except eat, cry and mess yourself. Everything was done for you by other people.

They were willing to do that for a while. But the day came when you had to start putting applesauce into your own mouth, buttoning your own shirt, and tying your own tennies. You learned how to take out the garbage and to clean a dirty dish. Once things really got going, you had to finish math homework by the deadline and do a first-rate job mowing and edging Mr. McWhirter’s lawn.

Year by year, bit by bit, you have encountered increasing responsibilities. The number of those responsibilities you have (or have not) accepted is an excellent measure of how much you’ve grown up. You could say a major gauge of how mature you are is how much you embrace responsibility.

What is responsibility? It is taking care of yourself rather than expecting someone else to. It means the buck stops with you. It means you cause something to happen, you do all you can to make it a success, and you accept blame if it fails.

“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child,” the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:11, “but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”

Deflecting responsibility is a “childish thing.” But you see it everywhere: people blaming their problems on someone else. They blame parents who didn’t give them enough; they blame the kid at school who told on them for cheating; they blame the teammate who dropped the ball in the second quarter for losing the game; they blame the teacher who wasn’t clear enough about the assignment; they blame the boss who has it out for them.

This childish, immature, anti-responsible game isn’t just for elementary and high school students. College professors are now teaching students how to be offended and how to blame their personal failures on society. Even politicians seeking powerful offices play the blame game: They say all the nation’s problems are the fault of the bums who were elected a few elections ago—even though the people elected those “bums”!

This is the dominant attitude in a world ruled by Satan. Why? Because he has never accepted responsibility for his own failures. He blames everything on God Himself!

Resist this! If you go through life focusing on what you don’t have, or what others aren’t doing for you, or how it’s their fault when things go badly, you will be stuck thinking like a child your whole life.

“[L]et every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden” (Galatians 6:4-5). God wants you to take responsibility. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t help others (see verse 2). It means you have to learn to carry your own load and take responsibility for yourself.

Sure, you’ve come a long way from those diaper days—but if you’re living under your parents’ roof, they still bear a lot of your load. They expend a lot of energy caring for you: your safety, your health, your education, your happiness. They provide your home, utilities, groceries, clothes, activities and trips. They supply meals, do laundry, create opportunities and do countless other things for you.

Be thankful for all that. Then, think of how you can take on more responsibility.

Do you need reminders about finishing homework, fulfilling chores, or cleaning your room? Get yourself organized and take care of those things on your own. Do you need to be reminded over and over about the same bad influences? Apply what your parents said last week to this week as well. Do you consume a lot of resources in day-to-day life and for special trips, activities or desires? Consider getting a part-time job to begin paying for some of your own expenses or saving your family time and money by learning to maintain the yard, the house, the vehicle. The time might not be right just yet—but remember, growing up means taking on these responsibilities at some point.

2 Thessalonians 3:10 is another biblical example showing how important this is to God. He expects every person to work, and says, “If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat” (New King James Version). This is your choice: If you want to eat, then work. If you choose not to work, you have to live with that choice and go hungry!

Is this cruel of God? He is just trying to help people grow up. He is teaching you accountability for your choices. He gives you responsibility because He wants to develop your character. He wants you to become stronger and more capable. Why? Because He loves you!

In our world, people think it is more “loving” to feed the lazy man who will not work—to give him not just a meal, but a nice monthly welfare check! As a result, that man starts feeling that society owes him, that he should be taken care of. He doesn’t learn responsibility, fails to develop useful skills, contributes little or nothing to his family and society, and never grows up!

What is your attitude toward responsibility? The sooner you learn to accept it—even to want more of it—the faster you will mature; the more fulfilling and fun your life will be; and the more success you will enjoy.

God wants to give you a lot more responsibility, and He is watching to see what you do with what He gives you. If you embrace it, He will help you grow and grow and grow! And He will give you awesome responsibility—in the Kingdom of God!