Who’s To Blame?

Just a short thought today on the topic of ‘blame.’ Over the years the Lord has let me see and understand some things about traits and characteristics of those who are faithful, meaning the true elect of God. One of those traits is that the righteous never blame anyone for anything that is going on in their own life. The reason is simply that those who are true in the faith of Christ “keep [their] hearts with all diligence,” and that is their top priority in life (Prov. 4:23; Mat. 6:33). They literally do not have time or space spiritually to even look for a reason to blame anyone for anything because they are too busy keeping their own hearts pure and living their lives in the love and peace of God toward God and men. The elect of God understand that only “the pure in heart shall see God,” and they also know that there will be absolutely no excuses accepted on the day of judgment for not having kept their hearts free from sin, which is to say pure (Mat. 5:8; Heb. 12:14; II Cor. 5:10; Eccl. 12:13,14; I Pet. 1:4,5). The truth of the matter is, when you truly occupy yourself with “purifying [yourself] even as [Jesus] is pure,” you don’t even think about those who have wronged or misaligned you (I Jn. 3:2,3). When you find reason to blame someone for something that is going on with you, or for some hurt you have experienced, etc.; what you really need to do is honestly acknowledge whatever it is in you that needs to be purified by humility and the power of God’s holy Spirit (I Jn. 1:9; I Tim. 5:24; Prov. 28:13). If you look for reasons to blame people for things, I’ve got news for you; you are going to find PLENTY of them! And in doing so you are going to cultivate ill will and self pity in your own spirit. If you make that a way of life and manage to justify yourself in doing so; you will certainly die in sin and go to hell, and probably be very shockingly surprised when you land there. Someone under self pity will ALWAYS blame someone else for something that is wrong in their own spirit; and as long as they do that they CANNOT get the wrong righted (Prov. 26:26; Jer. 8:5; Prov. 28:13).

The scripture plainly says, “He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit” (I Thess. 4:8). The same goes for blaming. He that blames, blames not man, but God. When Adam fell into sin in the garden of Eden, he blamed Eve; and Eve in turn blamed the serpent for her disobedience (Gen. 3:12,13). Those blames did not hold up, as they incurred the promised penalty of death for themselves, as well as for the rest of us. Many people live their lives blaming others for their own lacking in their hearts and lives. Some take the short cut and overtly blame God for their problems. I’ve seen more of that than I care to, and it always accompanies a very bad spiritual disposition. But God sent his Son two thousand years ago to make a way for us to have power over sin and all of its symptoms. That way is the power of his Spirit that is received by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Jn. 7:38,39; Acts 1:8). If we are not “kept [from sin] by the power of God,” that is our fault and our fault alone; and that is exactly the way it will register on the day of judgment (I Pet. 1:5). Period. God made a statement for the ages by the prophet Ezekiel, when he said; “The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him” (Ezek. 18:20). So we will surely answer for ourselves and what we have done, and there will be no one to blame if we come up short, other than ourselves. I’ve been through so many things with people during my years in Christ where I have been misjudged, misunderstood, misaligned, slandered, etc.; that the count is beyond my ability to remember. Yet I do not live with any feeling of having been hurt or misaligned at all, and I really don’t even feel much like anyone has wronged me, because it has all served only to make me more deeply rooted in God’s love and holiness (Rom. 8:28; II Tim. 2:3; I Pet. 5:10). I wouldn’t change a thing even if I had the ability to do so. The bottom line is that we should give strict attention to the first people who tried to blame their sins on someone else, and the result of their failed efforts. Why should we do that? Well, because as I often state, NOTHING has changed. Ever. Amen..