The Blame Game

At work, I have a pet peeve with the little kids. Well, I'll admit, I have several, but I'll deal with just one today. And like most pet peeves, I find myself guilty of it as well, so don't feel bad if you find you do it too. I'm quite sure you have at least once. Even the best five-year-olds in our class are guilty of this sometimes. Allow me to demonstrate through a story... Johny and Bobby (fake names) play together on the school playground. Both boys know throwing rocks is against the rules. Regardless, Bobby says to Johny, "You wanna throw a couple rocks at the girls to get them to chase us?"
Johny says, "Ok."
Bobby picks up the first rock and chucks it at Sally but misses. She doesn't notice.
"Ok, it's your turn," Bobby says.
Johny then mimics Bobby's behavior but the small stone strikes Sally's leg.
Sally cries and tells on Johny.
When the teacher confronts Johny, he's full of excuses: "But Bobby did it too." "He told me to do it!"
Sound slightly familiar?
Let me take you to a luscious, perfect garden where a cowarding man says, "It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it," and a hiding woman declares, "The serpent deceived me. That's why I ate it." 
What would have happened if Adam and Eve had just said, "I did it, and I'm sorry?" Maybe nothing, but still! 
This sin is second nature to mankind. Often my first instinct is to come up with a reason or a justification for my behavior. Being an only child, I didn't have much of an oportunity to blame others. What was I going to say? Mom did it? I did have my moments though. Like when my cousins came up for the weekend once a month. I could blame my misbehavior on them. Granted, my cousins usually did share in the mischief, but that's not the point. The message here is that I still should have taken responsibility.
Responsibility for our own actions is avoided across the globe. Oh, the earth is dirty? My littering habits have nothing to do with it! Oh, the child's mine? You seduced me! I shouldn't have to pay child support. Your foot aches? You made me mad. I had the right to stomp on it!
Galatians 6:5 states, "For we are each responsible for our own conduct." When our judgement day comes, we won't be able to whine and say, "But, God, so-and-so did it too!" or "The devil made me do it."
I know Jesus took my penalty, but the idea of being accountable for all I do is humbling (and a little terrifying). You know the saying...when we point at others, three fingers point back at us. We all make our own choices. In fact, that's exactly what I tell a child playing the blame game: You made a choice. You're responsible for that choice.


P.S. Next week, I will not have internet access and/or time to write a blog as I'll be helping a pre-teen camp. Please keep me in your prayers. I'm looking forward to writing what God gives me in two weeks.

Which is it?

During our last softball game on Sunday, I slightly sprained my ankle. Oh, was it humiliating! You see, fly balls are not my speciality. Not by far. In fact, during our first game (we had two), I called a ball that landed three feet behind me while I stood there with my arm raised and ready. I didn't even adjust my stance. So, when I actually caught a fly ball in the second game, I was extremely excited. I could hardly believe the ball landed in my glove. My pride swelled so that I did a happy hop and well...came down wrong on my ankle. Thus, the sprain. Once my teammates got me to the dugout, I had both my ankle and pride to mend. I said the sprain was due to Karma. I shouldn't have happy hopped. Now, was it really? I doubt it, but the idea got me thinking...
Our Bible Study went over Galatians 6 the very next day. Guess what verses 7 and 8 say? "Don't be misled--you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit." Huh. So does the Bible support Karma?

I looked up Karma. It's a fundamental Buddhist belief. It is one of several things that determine everything that happens. As it were, the differences between the rich and the poor, the ugly and the beautiful, the intelligent and the stupid, the talented and the untalented are due to past and present actions. In other words, we determine our own destiny.
Obviously, Buddhism isn't the Truth. Yet, Galatians seems to agree...

However, the Word has truth for the other side of the coin too. Jesus was confronted with this concept in John 9. His disciples asked if a blind man was blind due to his or his parents' sins. Jesus said no to both. The reason he was blind was so God's glory could shine. Likewise, Job wasn't being punished for sins like his friends thought. His faith was being tested. Also, Psalms 73 depressingly states that many times the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer.

On the other hand (again), 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, "For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good and evil we have done in this earthly body."

YET, still on the other hand, we receive our salvation not because we deserve it but because of the grace of God (Ephesians 2:8-9). We can't earn favor with God.

My head is spinning! Which is true??

Sometimes, God seems to contradict himself. Sometimes I forget that, in God, there is room for all truth. It's not necessarily one or the other. For example, free will verses predestination. Bible supports both. Which is true? Both. The whole truth falls somewhere in both truths, somewhere our human minds cannot go. We may never fully understand.
This is my brain's attempt to fathom the unfathomable:
Do we reap what we sow? Yes, it's called consequences. Do we receive undeserved grace through Christ's blood? Yes, no one can earn salvation through their own merit. Do good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people? Yes, but God has his reasons, which are just. Will God judge us all according to what we do? Yes, but since Jesus already took our punishment for sin, believers escape eternal fire, even though we deserve it.

So, did I earn my sprained ankle? Only God really knows. Regardless, "God works all things for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)" My job is to trust in the sovereignty of God, to learn from any lesson he gives, to repent of my sins, to be thankful always, and to walk in the Spirit.

Light

I am the storyteller for my church's VBS this week. Yesterday, we went over the story of Moses, Pharaoh and the plagues. The kids got to play out the plagues. I made sure to recruit a guy with a big heart, willing to be tortured four times (as there were four classes). Sometimes the kids would act out being gnats or dying cows. Sometimes they threw things at him like hail (wads of paper) or attach something to him like boils (red stickers). Oh, boy, did the kids have a BLAST! Poor Pharaoh (hehe).
Well, it's been a long time since I've gone over Biblical stories as a child. Now, mostly, the adult classes focus on the New Testament or harder-to-understand Old Testament. I admit, I had to look off a cheat sheet to remember all the plagues and their order. I even forgot one existed: darkness. On the ninth try, God sent a plague of darkness over the Egyptians. But, like all the other plagues, he protected his people, the Israelites, and kept them in light.
I was fascinated with the idea of some people living in darkness literally while others lived in light because it seems so miraculous. Animals attacking is more natural, you could say, than complete darkness in some areas and not in others nearby (nearby is the key. I'm quite aware it's dark on the other side of the earth while light here).
Most scripture (if not all) in the Old Testament point to Christ, God's salvation for all. I believe this is one of those times. The New Testament is filled with verses about darkness verses light.

John 8:12  Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, "I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't have to walk in darkness, because you have the light that leads to life."

Ephesians 5:8  For once you were full of darkness, but now you have the light from the Lord. So live as people of light!

Mathew 4:16 The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow,a light has shined.

1 Thessalonians 5:5  For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night.

God may not literally put us in light or darkness, but the concept is certainly real. We are to be God's people, the Israelites, and live in the light. You may ask how this can be since we are all mainly from Gentile descend. Faith is the answer. Galatians 3 tells us that it is by faith that we become the children of Abraham and receive the promise of God, which is everlasting life for those who believe in Christ Jesus.
Imagine life in darkness. Not being able to see to do things. Bumping into walls. Sounds like a painful, depressing life. So, let's let our light shine through the darkness so others might come to know Christ!!