Andy Stanley says there are three identifiable characteristics of irresponsibility: 1) irresponsibility is contagious; 2) irresponsibility is contagious because it is rewarded; and, 3) when someone or a group act irresponsible, someone has to come along and shoulder the burden of that irresponsibility.
Let's break them down for a moment. We can certainly observe that irresponsibility is contagious. There is no point in my working hard, paying my own way, cleaning up my own messes, when other people have found a way to succeed being irresponsible. Let's be honest, it's easier to be irresponsible. And if can profit from being irresponsible, why not?
Secondly, irresponsibility is contagious because it is rewarded. I mean, that's just the way the world works...what gets rewarded gets repeated. So if we reward irresponsibility, it will be repeated. If I continue to remove the consequences of poor choices for someone who acts irresponsible, they will continue to act irresponsible.
Finally, when someone or a group of people act irresponsible, someone has to come along and shoulder the burden of that irresponsibility. Irresponsibility impacts everyone that is connected to the irresponsible person. Remember when Jonah decided to disobey God and headed toward Tarshish instead of Ninevah? He got on a boat and a great storm arose and it appeared that everyone on the boat was going to die. The merchants-sailors on that boat had not been irresponsible, but yet they through the cargo (how they made a living) overboard to try to save their lives. They not only lost the wages they would have made from the trip, but they had to reimburse the people who had sent the cargo with them. I would say Jonah irresponsibility impacted their lives, wouldn't you?
As Christians, we should be incredible examples of responsibility. We know the inter-connectedness we share with everyone. And ultimately, we know we are accountable...to one another, but most importantly, to our Heavenly Father.
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