Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
The Privilege of Responsibility
The Privilege of Responsibility
Aug 28, 2025 11:06 PM

This past weekend in Chicago a luncheon was held for the kickoff of college football’s Big 10 Conference. Michigan State University quarterback, Kirk Cousins, was featured at the conference, giving an honorary talk on his journey through four years in college football, and the important lessons he took away from his experience.

Cousin’s stresses the opportunity given to him at MSU was one of privilege. Unlike most haughty star athletes, Kirk Cousins seem to understand what it truly means to be privileged in the world of sports, he says:

“It is in this place of privilege where danger lies. I have been taught that human nature is such that the place of privilege most often leads to a sense of entitlement.” He goes on to say, though, that “Privilege should never leave to entitlement. In fact, I have been taught to believe that privilege should lead to responsibility. “

After these impressive words spoken from the quarterback Kirk Cousins, he then goes on to quote from Scripture; a verse that the Acton Institute has heavily used in informing the position that businessmen, politicians, and educators in our world hold today. The es from Luke 12:48, “Any person that has been given much will be responsible for much. Much more will be expected from the person that has been given more.”

This message, reiterated to us from a college football quarterback, should teach those of us who hold positions of leadership- that it is a privilege, and the es with a responsibility given to us by the grace of God. Those of us, who are given the great responsibility of leadership, have the freedom to choose what we will do with this great gift; but we should pray and hope we will choose what we ought to.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
There’s More to Gender Pay Than Gender or Pay
There are some misleading statistics that never die. Take, for example, the claim that “American women who work full-time, year-round are paid only 77 cents for every dollar paid to their male counterparts.” For decades economists and pundits have explained why that figure, even if accurate, doesn’t tell us what we think it does (e.g, that woman are being discriminated against in the workforce). But many people are still confused by such claims, so it’s encouraging to hear Anna Broadway...
Audio: Rev. Sirico on The Dom Giordano Show
Last week, CBS Radio Philadelphia host Dom Giordano took to the airwaves to address President Obama’s “You didn’t get there on your own” speech. The speech, which garnered plenty of discussion at Acton and elsewhere, drew varied responses from Giordano’s radio audience. Among those responses were several callers who mended Rev. Sirico’s latest book, Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for a Free Economy, as a useful corrective to the President’s speech. This prompted Giordano to read the book...
Self-Appointed Nannys of the Nanny State
Economists have always been moralists, but since the mid-20th century many have also e wannabe technocrats—unelected experts who make public policy decisions based on specialized information rather than public opinion. A prime example is the new “libertarian paternalists” (a group that is definitely paternalistic but not very libertarian) who believe that government should attempt to influence the economic choices of affected parties in a way that will make choosers better off. In a review of Robert and Edward Skidelsky’s new...
A Jump on a Dark Knight
Last night, I went to see the newest “Batman” movie with my fellow Acton interns. I thought it was a great movie, and I mend seeing it and reading Jordan Ballor’s review of it. I also want to echo some of the themes that Jordan discussed in his piece. After the movie was done, it turned out that the people who had parked behind me were in need of a jump for their car. I didn’t know these people, but...
Why Welfare Should Respect the Dignity of Work
Hugh Whelchel and Anne Rathbone Bradley explain why removing the work requirements to welfare undermines both human dignity and the nature of work: From a Judeo-Christian perspective, we see that people are designed to work. In the Book of Genesis we read, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15). Wheaton College professor Leland ments on this verse: “Here human work is shown to...
Pray For Purpose and Be On Call
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 So what brought you to this blog today? What were you doing 10 minutes before you clicked on this link and started reading these words? Do you have a sense for why you were doing that task or thinking those thoughts? Most of the time we can’t answer questions like this with much clarity or definitiveness. Instead...
Samuel Gregg: The Economic Crisis and Europe’s Rule of Law Problem
Close attention to particular decisions by European institutions and governments, says Acton Research Director Samuel Gregg, suggests that many have significantly infringed the rule of law: Among the many non-economic factors shaping Europe’s current crisis, there is one which, despite its seriousness, has not yet received extensive attention: an emerging rule of law problem throughout the EU. Many will be taken aback by this claim. Isn’t Europe the continent where the very idea of the rule of law was first...
Milton Friedman, the School Choice Movement, and Moral Formation
July 31st marks the 100th birthday of the economist Milton Friedman. Celebrations planned by proponents of free-markets will take place across the country to recognize and pay tribute to his legacy and the power of his ideas. I am speaking at an Americans for Prosperity event in town on the topic of school choice on his birthday. mentary this week is on school choice. Nobody has influenced and shaped the school choice movement more than Friedman. In my piece, I...
The Desert Fathers as Spiritual Explorers
Coptic icon of St. Anthony the Great and St. Paul of Thebes Earlier today, Dwight Gibson, Acton’s Director of Program Outreach, gave a presentation for the Acton Lecture Series on “The New Explorers.” While in the nineteenth century being an explorer was a vocation, the twentieth century saw a certain stagnation; geographically, at least, most of the exploring was finished. Furthermore, mon mindset was changed from the hope of what could be discovered, on all frontiers, to the idea that...
Stopping the Young Business
A Holland, Mich., teenager is being stopped from opening a hotdog cart due to city zoning laws. It’s really disheartening when you consider the fact that this young person was trying to be responsible and work to help his family and build up savings for his future. In Work: The Meaning of Your Life, Lester DeKoster writes that work is a way in which we provide service to others—a service this teenager has been denied the chance to provide. The...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved