Thursday, January 24, 2019

“Where To Lay Blame”

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…



"Where To Lay Blame"




     Our fleshly tendency to rationalize our sins began immediately after Adam and Eve distrusted and disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden.

    "The man said, The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat" (Genesis 3:12-13).

   Adam blamed God - "the woman whom Thou gavest me" - and Eve - "she gave me of the tree."  Eve blamed the devil - "the serpent beguiled me."  Neither blamed themselves.  Thus, the strain and the stain of avoiding personal responsibility manifested itself in fallen humanity from the very outset of our sad history.  Thereafter, God must work in the hearts of human beings to convince us of sin.  Even one of the best and brightest among us - King David - required the visit of a prophet to illuminate his heart to the sin of adultery with Bathsheba, and the murder of her husband by having him assigned to the bloodiest of battlefields (II Samuel, ch. 11-12).  The man declared by the Lord to be "after Mine own heart" failed to see the catastrophic moral failure that surely should have been obvious and acknowledged (Acts 13:22).  

    What does this say to us?  Even in born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, our flesh remains infected with the tendency to avoid responsibility for our own sins.  Others may influence us to unbelief and disobedience to God.  If we succumb, however, we bear completely responsible for our sins.  All of them.  The shed blood of the Lord Jesus provides forgiveness for sins, but not for excuses.  Thankfully, the David so guilty of wickedness and blindness also came to His senses in repentance and confession: "For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me" (Psalm 51:3).  We must seek to join our wayward but forgiven brother of old when we sin.  The Holy Spirit now fulfills the role of exposing our sins and convicting us to lay blame at the only doorstep where it rightly belongs.  "I have sinned against the Lord" confessed David to Nathan (II Samuel 12:13).  Let us say the same to our Lord whenever He convicts us of sin, taking the full responsibility that alone prepares us to know the forgiveness and cleansing of our merciful Heavenly Father.

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
(I John 1:9)

Weekly Memory Verse
  But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, o God, is forever and ever, a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Thy kingdom."
(Hebrews 1:8)


  

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