If there was to be independence, self-sufficiency, or freedom, then we first had to understand, accept, and discharge our responsibilities. (Clarence Thomas, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court)

When he uttered these words in a commencement address at Hillsdale College, Justice Thomas was comparing the attitude of people in his generation with that of the current generation he was addressing. His words are worth our considering today: “There [can] be no freedom without each of us discharging our responsibilities.

Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind (Ecclesiastes 12:13). If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them (James 4:17).