Responsibility is a Gift for Sanctification
Responsibility is a gift for sanctification. At first glance it might not look like something we’d ever think to want, much less ask for. Some of us would prefer to re-gift it.

Why would God give responsibility?

He does so because responsibility is an expression of his first gift, relationship. Let’s look at the first part of Webster’s definition for responsibility, then at a couple of other related words. Responsibility is the quality or state of being responsible: as a moral, legal, or mental accountability.
The next related word, responsible, means liable to be called on to answer, called to account as a primary cause, motive, or agent. To be able to answer for one’s conduct and obligations, trustworthy, able to choose for one’s self between right and wrong. The key word in this definition, repeated twice, is answer.

Why is this so important?

Without a connection between responsibility and relationship, there’s no one to ask questions to be answered, no one to show interest, no one to give help when things go badly, and no one to celebrate with when they go well. We would be alone. God the Father himself said this was not a good state of affairs.
The other related word is responsive: giving response, answering, being quick to react appropriately or sympathetically: to be sensitive. Dead or inanimate things are not responsive.
Responsibility is a gift for sanctification. It gives us opportunity to display God’s characteristic of trustworthiness. It’s also something for which we are responsible. In our humanity we can look at responsibility as a burden, or with God’s help, see it as a specific office, duty, or trust.
Think. Would you rather have a specific office or duty, something to do? Or, be under constant scrutiny because you couldn’t be trusted?
Have you ever fallen for the devil’s lie about responsibility, that “paradise” is like being on a Hawaiian beach with nothing to accomplish? It’s nonsense, because even in Eden Adam had responsibility. He named the animals, trees, birds, and insects, and took care of the garden.

God gave Adam responsibility, and his reasons for doing so still hold true today. Besides our families and wage-earning occupations, Jesus gave us his Great Commission. Working at them all with the Holy Spirit’s guidance will result in our sanctification.