Accepting responsibility for your actions can go a long way in restoring relationships if we have harmed another individual. Holding ourselves accountable for our actions shows that we have sincerely acknowledged our shortcomings and are on a path to making an amends. When we seek to turn from our sin it is called repentance. Repentance is basically accepting responsibility for our actions and seeking forgiveness. Unlike worldly relationships where deeds and works may be involved with rectifying the situation, repentance does not require any deeds or works. Repentance is an understanding that our sin separates us from God and by repenting we accept responsibility for our sins and seek forgiveness from God.
Repentance to God is way easier than justifying our shortcomings to another person. God already knows what we did, how we did it and the state of our heart seeking forgiveness. Worldly relationships are way more complicated and will have lots more layers to deal with. I find it interesting that people think that they are too far gone for God to save them, but they will put in a ton of effort to get the world to accept them. God has made salvation the simplest and most straight forward easy redemption that anyone could fathom. All you have do is acknowledge that you are a sinner, ask for forgiveness of you sins and put your trust and faith in Jesus that your sins will be forgiven. That’s it, very simple and straight forward.
Satan makes accepting responsibility complicated.
When you get in a situation that is complicated and you don’t want to accept responsibility for your actions, that is the devil speaking into you. Satan would love nothing more than for you to beat yourself up over your actions, refuse to own your mistakes and keep living a stressful and torn existence. He will continue to push you away from resolving situations by putting doubt into your head, anger in your heart and fear in your stomach. Repentance is one giant leap forward to changing your life and setting yourself on a path to self-accountability.
Society will say “you be you”, “do what makes you happy”. Those ideas are filled with a bunch of emptiness and self-absorption. The words put you on an island by yourself by promoting selfish ways. Just because someone thinks that they are doing something that makes them happy does not mean that life will work out for them in the long run. When you actively live in sin, you are walking away from God, not towards him. Walking away from God creates less accountability and humbleness in your life. It amplifies and magnifies problems in your life and creates an unneeded divide between you and others.
When we focus our attention on God, accept responsibility for our actions and seek repentance, we will point our compass towards God. Everything in our life will be instantly drawn to him like a magnet. Our behaviors will change. Our attitude will change. We will seek to sin less and become a better version of ourselves. So today, seek repentance in your life and turn your mistakes over to God. Do what makes God happy instead of trying to please your sinful behavior.