On Saving the World

The burden of being hyper-responsible and the importance of temperance

Photo by Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash

How to deal with this fact: the world is filled with suffering and you are only one person. And most days you don’t even feel like one person. You feel like half a person or a quarter of a person, pulled multiple directions at once by competing demands: friends, spouse, children, work, school, church. Always something. And yet the suffering remains. Someone has been shot, and what are you doing about it? Someone is sick, and what are you doing about it? Someone is being oppressed, and what are you doing about it? Someone is lonely, and what are you doing about it? Someone might be harmed, and what are you doing about it? Suffering remains and what are you doing about it?

Of course, the Internet has only made this question more pressing by exposing us to more suffering than ever and by introducing us to advocates who insist that no matter who we are, where we are, and what our other obligations are, we have a duty to act on this issue immediately or we are complicit with the oppressors! So the guilt and shame and condemnation only increase.

People respond to the cries of suffering in different ways. Some people grow callus to them. They distract themselves, they focus on their own suffering, they start to hate their neighbor and condemn them for their affliction, or they dramatize suffering as a kind of glorious, meaning-making activity. Others do their best to alleviate suffering where they find it, volunteering and serving where they can, donating to charities, giving to the poor, sitting with lonely friends, and voting for reforms that they believe will reduce suffering in the world. When Christians do this temperately (we’ll see what I mean by that in a moment) while trusting in God’s providence to ultimately make all things new, they honor God and love their neighbor as best they can.

But other people are hyper-responsible. And I think this group may be growing because the Internet invites us to care about everything and everyone. A hyper-responsible person takes on burdens, duties, and obligations beyond what they are rightly given by God. It is excessive, intemperate, inordinate efforts to “fix” the world and people and problems around you. And it is marked by an overwhelming sense of guilt and condemnation that you “haven’t done enough” or you are the “only one taking this seriously.” I know because I struggle with this.

The main problem with hyper-responsibility is that you can’t save everyone. You can’t even save yourself. You can’t even save a Word document if it didn’t have autosave. It’s not your job to save the world or people. It is of course your job to love people and to act justly and virtuously. But it’s not your job to fix everything or everyone. It can’t be. Because you aren’t God, thank God.

Instead, you need to think in terms of your sphere of responsibility. What is in your direct sphere of responsibility according to the Bible? What are the direct responsibilities the Bible speaks of for you? For example, I am directly responsible for the education I provide my students because that is my job. And what is outside your sphere of responsibility and rightfully belonging to God? These are the things outside of our control and responsibility. For example, I am not directly responsible for the education of students at universities across America who may be abandoning reading altogether. Although I do have an interest in those students!

I also think we need to think of immediate versus distant responsibilities. According to headlines I’ve read recently, President Trump may issue a strike on Iran in the coming days. We may go to war. Can I stop that? No. I guess I could complain about it online, but probably the most meaningful thing I can do would be to say a prayer. Because that’s far from my sphere of responsibility. But if a friend calls up and says he needs someone to talk to because he is having financial trouble and is scared, that’s an immediate responsibility that I can pray about and act on.

But even with immediate responsibilities, the hyper-responsible person has to learn to accept that God is the one who is sovereign, not them. Because the suffering person may choose to continue making bad choices, or they may reject help, or you may not be the best person to help them, or you may have other obligations that you need to attend to first.

My point is, if you start from the premise that you are responsible for fixing everyone and everything, you will end up feeling crushed under an impossible burden of guilt and shame and condemnation. Because you are carrying the burden of Godhead. And you don’t have the shoulders of God.

It’s only when you practice the virtue of temperance and accept your limits as a frail human being that you can fully serve others without guilt or shame or condemnation. Look for who God has given you to care for. Care for them with love. Accept that you have limits. You need to eat and sleep and care for yourself (selfless self-preservation!) or you will be of no use to anyone. The hyper-responsible person often gets so fixated on trying to “solve” one person or problem that they (ironically) neglect their more immediate and tangible responsibilities. Don’t fall for that. Remember who you are immediately responsible for and care for them. You may be anxious about the environment collapsing, but if you stay in bed for days agonizing over it instead of walking your dog, how are you being a responsible, loving, caring person?

The true beauty is that we can trust God to be provident over all the suffering of the world. I don’t know how he will bring it all together. I don’t know how he will work it all to his glory. I don’t know the details of how he will bring justice. But I have hope (another virtue) that he will. And so it’s not my job to save the world. I can’t do it. I can’t. I tried. I keep trying. I keep failing. The world continues to suffer and I have done no good. But there is One who has done and will do good. And I can trust him. And if I trust in God’s work of redemption, then I am free to do my little works of reconciliation here on earth faithfully within my finite limits and offer them as gifts. Perhaps he will take them up and use them in his masterpiece of redemption. Perhaps some of my efforts will burn away as dross in the last day. But no matter, he will have grace for me either way. And redemption will come either way.