Blaming - March 9, 2015

 

Matthew 7:3-5 ESV      Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 ESV      If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ...

2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV      But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Romans 2:1 ESV      Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.

“The Blame Game”: Evading Responsibility

James 1:13     When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;

This introduces the idea of the origin of sin, and who is to blame for it. James says here that there is a kind of person who, when they are tempted, wants to blame someone else for it, for example, saying: “I am being tempted by God.” This “The Blame Game” – blaming someone else for your shortcomings.

“The Blame Game” has been going on since the beginning of creation, as we see in the Book of Genesis. In the 3rd Chapter, we find that Adam and Eve broke God’s command by eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil. When God confronted him with his fault, Adam said in :12, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” From the very beginning, Adam tried to pawn off the responsibility for his sin: “The woman You gave me …”. He shifted responsibility for his choice first to Eve – that SHE gave it to him — and then ultimately to GOD Himself, when he said, “The woman YOU gave me”! Adam did not accept personal responsibility for what he had done. He blamed someone else: his wife, and even God, instead. He started “The Blame Game.”

And of course mankind is still caught up in “The Blame Game” today. Everywhere you see people shifting the responsibility for their choices to others – anyone but themselves. It was their parents’ fault. It is because they were brought up poor. It is because they had a bad environment. It is because they didn't have any education. It is because “they were born that way” — anything but their own responsibility.

Stop blaming your heredity or your parents or your environment or anyone but yourself for YOUR shortcomings and poor choices. Sure, every last one of us  is born with weaknesses, some to one thing, and some to another – we ALL are. But having a weakness in an area of our lives does not excuse us from fighting against that temptation, and neither does it relieve us of the responsibility for our own stuff. Whatever weakness you have, there is someone else who is fighting and overcoming that very thing, with God’s help. Stop blaming everyone but yourself, and begin taking responsibility for your own actions. Stop playing “The Blame Game.” 

Every last one us needs to: ACCEPT PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for our own actions!  It is the first step towards genuine salvation. Say with this passage in James: “it was ‘my own lust.’” It wasn't the devil who made you do it; it certainly wasn't GOD who made you do it; no one else “made” you do it!

• ·        Stop blaming it on your parents.
• ·       Stop blaming your partner
• ·       Stop blaming it on your inherited tendencies.
• ·       Stop blaming it on your family upbringing.
• ·       Stop blaming it on your environment.
• ·        Stop blaming it on economic deprivation.
• ·       Stop blaming it on your lack of education.
• ·       Stop blaming it on your poor health.
• ·        Stop blaming it on your friends.Stop blaming it on anyone or anything else. 

     Take ownership and control over your choices