Musick-al Note # 143
How easy it seems to be and how natural for one to assign failure or neglect or concern on someone else. When God spoke to Adam (Genesis 3:8-23) in the garden, he said, “The woman gave it to me” – it was her fault. Then Eve said, “The serpent tempted me” – it’s his fault. Excuse me for my sin, it’s someone else’s fault. Children learn to say, “It’s brother’s fault” or “It’s sister’s fault” or someone else’s fault. Don’t blame me -blame someone else”
We need to come face to face with reality. Adam bore his guilt, Eve bore her guilt and Satan bore his guilt. None were excused. Nor do we excuse a boy or girl when they succumb to temptation and sin. When temptation causes us to sin, we will bear our own guilt. In short, man is not excused because someone else tempted him and he engaged in sin.
In the church today we find this same old way of man. “It’s the elders fault” or “It’s the preacher’s fault” Not uncommonly do we hear, “I don’t like what they do” – it’s their fault. So goes the childish reasoning that the blame for failure, neglects, unconcern, that and many other sins will be overlooked in a person’s life. Yet in every example of wrong, the Bible exclaims – “The soul that sins shall die” – each bore the guilt of his or her own transgression.
When Jesus was eating the last Passover Supper with His disciples he said, “One of you shall betray me.” No finger pointing session followed! Each concerned with his own soul asked, “Lord is it I?” These men might not have been mature in Christ but they were ahead of us in this question. Instead of assigning the blame on another, they were concerned with self. When there is failure to grow, sin in the church, stumbling by Christians, general neglect and indifference, shouldn’t we ask as the apostles, “Lord, is it I?”
Gordon Musick
Musick-al Notes 