2-24-2015

        Good Morning All,

         Genesis 3:12; “The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”

     In our local newspaper we get a comic called “The Family Circus” by Bill Keane.  It is about a family with small children.  Whenever something gets broke or spilled and the mother asks, “Who did this?”  There are at least two “ghost-like” figures running away from the mess.  One is named “Not me” and the other is named “I don’t know.”  It portrays the children avoiding responsibility and denying any actions which might get them punished.

    In a movie that I watched a few nights back, a soldier with the rank of corporal arrived at a new base to serve as an aide to a major where something had gone wrong.  As the corporal and the major were going into a meeting to discuss the problem, the major turned to the corporal and said, “I am going to blame the problem on you.”  The corporal, somewhat shocked, surprised and even a little outraged, told the major, “I wasn’t even here!”  The major responded, “I didn’t say you did it; I said I was going to blame you.”  Isn’t that how life works sometimes?  One article about being a smart middle manager in a large corporation wrote that the most important thing to know who to blame when something went wrong.

    We love to blame others for our problems.  We blame the government, our spouse or family, we blame “bad luck”, we blame anything or anyone for our struggles and, eventually, we join Adam and blame God.  We blame God because our selfish sinful nature wants us blind to the truth.  The fact that we are under-educated, or that we are lazy or that we do not eat healthy foods or that we engage in unhealthy activities or that we simply make very poor choices has nothing to do with the situation that we find ourselves in; ultimately it is God’s fault; at least that is what the devil and our sinful nature wants us to believe.

    By believing or accepting that God is to blame places a wall between us and God.  It slips into our mind and into the back of our conscience and it causes us to not trust God and when we do not trust God, then we do not seek his mercy.  We look to other people or things for that support we so desperately need and seek out.

    It is important for us to recognize this as the devil’s attacks.  When we come to God and acknowledge, admit and confess our sinful condition; we are also seeking God’s deliverance from the struggle that we are in.  We seek his grace and guidance in order to move past the pain of guilt that is often associated with placing blame.  When we turn to God, we see a God that has already dealt with the guilt and the sorrow by having Jesus pay the price for our sin.  He thus gives to us the blessing of that event.  We do not have to seek who we will blame; rather we can prayerfully seek to live better from now on.

Father of all mercy; lead me to see that placing blame only serves to break relationships.  Help me to see that this action leads only into pain.  Guide us by your Spirit to cling to the cross of Jesus and to see you as our only hope.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret