“A person’s own folly leads to their ruin, yet their heart rages against the Lord.”
I saw a news report the other day about a young man who had made an awful decision and was dealing with equally awful consequences. It wasn’t a unique story; however, this one struck me because, as I watched, he began to blame what seemed like everyone he could think of—his parents, his community, even his past teachers and educators. What he never did was take any responsibility himself for his poor decision-making and resulting actions. It struck me how I remember my children doing that on occasion when they were small. One of the tasks Jennifer and I saw as important in parenting was helping them understand that they were ultimately responsible for their decisions—and that shifting blame to others was never okay. Not even shared blame. Not even a little bit. In this verse, Solomon tells us that sometimes we are even capable of blaming God for the hard things in our lives. Some people choose to live in that state of deferred blame constantly, rather than take responsibility for the consequences of their sin and poor decisions. If my children had continued to blame others for their poor behavior, they would have ruined those relationships. We do the same when we make God the bad guy in our story. Today, accept responsibility for your behavior—and repent. #BeTheEdge
“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” Matthew 3:8 NIV
