Good Morning All,
There is 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 is 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 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
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