Article August 27, 1984 Issue

Responsibility—burden or joy?

EDNA MARY WATSON

The answer to this question lies in our understanding what responsibility truly is. Many have felt at one time or another that their human responsibilities were a burden. But happily a better concept of our duties and a prayerful approach to these can exchange a burdened sense for joy and dominion.

Christ Jesus, our Way-shower, left a timeless message for everyone seeking comfort and strength in fulfilling right demands: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ... For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."^{Matt. 11:28, 30.}

Christ, Truth, assures us that an unselfed desire to fulfill a right obligation opens the way to the means of doing so, as Jesus' own lifework illustrates. With the demand comes the spiritual supply of ability and might to meet it. One hindrance in proving this truth more fully in our lives is the general human opinion that man is a limited mortal with many frailties. When this belief is accepted, it leads to fear that one's responsibilities are too demanding and that his efforts may end in failure.

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