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A FAVORITE GAME
The husband beats the wife and claims it is her fault for not
being a better wife. The five
year-old goes into a tantrum because mom won't give her what she wants.
The teenager says he wouldn't have taken that drink if it hadn't
been for his friends. That
young adult says he would go to church if his parents hadn't forced
religion down his throat. The
philandering spouse says he would not have done that if the other partner
had been different.
But that game isn't new.
It actually began in the Garden of Eden. And men and women, boys and girls are playing a game invented
by Adam. It's called
"passing the buck." Read
it. Adam said to God that his
sin was Eve's fault ... NO ... even worse, it was really God's fault.
He said to God, "The woman YOU put here with me ... she gave
me some fruit . .. " (GEN 3:12).
And so it goes.
There is a plague of "it's someone else's fault ... certainly
not mine!!!" And when
men and women are not willing to be held accountable for their short-fall
if not their wrong doing, the consequences are enormous. Others pick up the same habit ... particularly children.
There is a disease in society which results from being unwilling to
be accountable for our actions.
We all need to learn the song, "Not
my father, not my mother ... not my brother, not my sister, but it's me, O
Lord, standing in the need of prayer!"
We need to revive the old-fashioned courage to admit when we are
wrong and accept the responsibility for our misdeeds or errors.
Few can survive long without honesty, honor and integrity. |
