The Word of the Decade

And a reason for optimism

Last week I went to my first real estate auction—solely as an observer, sadly—and it clicked off a light bulb in my head.

The prize was to be two houses and a nice chunk of land, which sounded great until you walked through the houses. Both will require countless hours of work to almost completely gut them. Floors pulled up, walls redone, new paint, windows replaced, probably a new roof. It won’t be easy, and it won’t be cheap.

And yet, after a heavy rain that caused humid, muddy conditions, plenty of people came out to put up good money in an attempt to buy this mess.

Why?

Because the mess represents opportunity.

The price they paid + what it will cost to renovate will fall well below what they can sell it for in turn, or what they can pull in by renting out both properties.

To them it did not matter how the houses got so messed up, or why. It didn’t matter who was to blame. What mattered was that there was a huge opportunity staring in the face of anybody who was willing to take on the responsibility of fixing the problem.

There is a tremendous lesson in this.

As we look at our shrinking churches, our generational attrition, our cultural degeneracy, our declining economy, and all of the other markers that give us cause for despair, it looks a lot like a broken-down house. We are a people adrift, with aimless churches and little idea of what do about it.

We all know that current trends aren’t sustainable or healthy. And we all want to sit around and cast blame—it’s the fault of the boomers, or the millennials, or the schools, or white people, or the 1%, or immigrants, or the media, or whoever. And you can probably make a good case for whichever one you believe.

But casting blame never got anything done. Further, blame is just an admission of helplessness. I recently heard someone on a podcast say that “Power follows the blame finger.” Whenever you cast blame, you admit that the thing or person you’re blaming is responsible and therefore has authority over you.

For example, when I wrote on the issue of obese preachers, some of the responses insisted that no matter how healthy some people eat, obesity is inevitable. Obviously, I disagree. But which thing would you rather be true?

If the two options are “I have not done a good job of taking responsibility for my health” or “No matter what I do, I cannot help but be in terrible physical health,” how on earth is the latter preferable?

It is WAY worse to be in a bad spot with no recourse than to be in a bad spot because of your own doing.

When you take responsibility, you have agency, and when you have agency, you have exciting possibilities ahead of you.

That’s why I’m calling responsibility “the word of the decade,” because the decade and beyond (on both a broad scale and a small one) will be decided by those who look at this broken down house and take responsibility for fixing it.

Do you see the beauty in all of this? You can do something. Rather than lamenting how difficult a time it is to be alive, shift your mindset to see the difficulty as opportunity.

Consider the example of Saul and David. In 1 Samuel 15, when Samuel confronted Saul about why he disobeyed God’s command to destroy the Amalekites entirely, what did Saul say? “They… the people…” (15:15).

On the other hand, in 2 Samuel 12, when Nathan confronted David, what did David say? “Well, Bathsheba did…” Nope. He said “I have sinned against the Lord” (12:13).

Similarly, remember when Israel’s army faced Goliath. Saul was the king and the leader, but he was also Israel’s tallest man (1 Samuel 10:23) and one of only two men with adequate weaponry (13:19-22). If it was anybody’s job to stand up to the giant, it was Saul’s. And yet he was found hiding in his tent.

David didn’t really care about who Goliath was or whose job it was to take on the challenge. He saw a job that needed to be done, for God’s honor and for His people, and so he did it.

The result? He took responsibility, and from that authority flowed to him. The people loved him and drifted away from Saul (1 Samuel 18:7).

What this means for you and me

Obviously you and I can’t fix the economy. We can’t fix the church’s dropout rate. We can’t single-handedly halt pride parades.

But there are some things you and I can do. And we had better start doing them. Take stock of anything that is in your power to impact and improve, and take responsibility for it.

It is a gigantic waste of time to complain about things out of our control when we aren’t even handling the things that are in our control.

And the more ways you take responsibility and handle what’s yours, the more opportunity arises to take on more and make a bigger impact. “To everyone who has, more will be given” (Matthew 25:29).

If you’re a husband, lead your family. Don’t spend much time worrying about who’s to blame for the problems in your home, but rather worry about taking responsibility for what’s yours. If you’re a wife, submit to the best of your ability. If you’re a church leader, be a responsible shepherd to your people. If you’re a member, be the best member you can be. If you’re a community leader, be principled and decisive. If you’re not, do whatever is in your power to make your neighborhood a better place.

And, look for other people who are taking responsibility. Look at who’s making things better and preaching a better way, and look at who’s stuck complaining and blaming. Support them. Stick with them.

The application is up to you, but it’s not hard.

Take responsibility. Fix the house. Shape the future.