I don’t like back seat drivers (or front seat passenger drivers that should be in the back seat!). Of course, I am one and it was never more evident as when my daughter was learning how to drive.

One day early on we ventured out on the highway. Okay, it wasn’t a highway it was just a street in our development but it seemed like a highway since she was driving.

As she pulled out into the main street she did something I didn’t like but wasn’t necessarily wrong. I reached across and grabbed the wheel to try and turn it. (Oh yes I did!)

I scared her and she put on the brakes, hard and fast. I panicked, she was upset and it almost caused us to be in an accident.

I wonder how many times we do that with God? He’s got the wheel but we try to tell him where to go or worse, try and take the wheel from him. Since he knows the way, it’s better for him to be in the driver’s seat, or at the least, listen to him when he tells you which way to go. He’s the only other driver (and back seat driver!) you can trust.

The “E.R.” Perspective or “The Burden of Personal Responsibility.”

Have you ever spent time in an ER? If you have children (or been one!), you probably have. They’re no fun. People are treated in order of the seriousness of illness or injury. If you come in with chest pains, a severed finger or impaled on a 2 X 4 (yes, that really happened- I saw it on one of those E.R. reality shows!) you get immediate attention. Short of that? Take a seat and wait…and wait…and wait.

All of us likely need an ER at some point in our lives, I know I have and members of my family have. A decision to go to the ER doesn’t come lightly. When you go you do so because you need help now!

That’s what church is supposed to be. We are not a sterile sanctuary for the saints but rather a hospital for the hurting. We are a place where people can come when their heart has been wounded by life, their relationships have been severed and they have been impaled by the problems of life. We are a spiritual ER of sorts.

In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he urges us to do two things. First, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 5:2 NIV). The picture is that of a soldier who gets wounded in battle and can’t carry himself, much less anything else. When that happens, it is up to his fellow soldiers to pick him up and carry his gear. That’s a great illustration of what we should do for others.

Paul added that, when we do, we are fulfilling the law of Christ – the law of love. Remember that when Jesus referred to love he spoke in terms of agape love which means to give and to expect nothing in return. And he usually talked about it in story form – think “Good Samaritan.”

Second, he goes on in Galatians 6:5 to say, “…for each one should carry their own load.” A contradiction? By no means. He is simply saying that all of us have been given the responsibility to carry our own gear through life and we shouldn’t transfer it to someone else unless when feel like we can’t go on. We all have our own load. We should bear it willingly.

The “E.R. perspective” is a good one for us to adopt at the onset of this New Year. What is it? E.R. in this case means, “Everyone’s Responsible.” Everyone is responsible for themselves…and for others.

Just imagine what would happen if we live out this principle in 2022? The world would be a better place, people would be less stressed and, most of all, churches would be doing their job.

Responsibility – a word for all of us to live by in 2022.