Who's to blame?

“I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way.” ~ Jessica Rabbit

“No doubt the trouble is with you.” ~ Bob Jones, Sr.

If you are a parent you are used to excuses or rationalizations for things not getting accomplished or blame shifting when house rules are broken. As a kid I used to love reading the daily comic strips in our local newspaper and one of my Sunday morning rituals was reading the comics in the Sunday paper. Every parent would get a chuckle out of Bill Keane’s comic called “Family Circus” which chronicled the lives of Billy, Dolly, Jeffy, P.J and their extended family. Whenever something was broken in the house or cookies mysteriously came up missing the children would blame invisible gremlins named “Not Me”, “Ida Know”, “Nobody” and “Just B. Cause”.

We will not accept the excuse of invisible gremlins for our kids behavior, just like as Christians we will not allow someone to rationalize away rebellion or sin by saying “The devil made me do it.” Yet often we try to blame outside or external forces when we approach God. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines rationalization as “to substitute a natural for a supernatural explanation; to attribute one’s actions to rational and credible motives without analysis of true and especially unconscious motives; and to create an excuse or more attractive explanation for.” We see rationalization on the very first pages of the Bible in Genesis chapter 3. Satan tempts Eve, and she is quickly followed by Adam. When God asks why, Adam shifts the blame rather than accepting his own personal responsibility and tells God it’s His fault because of the woman you gave me.

Within Christian circles we do the same exact thing; we blame external forces and shift the blame for what is an inward problem. John MacArthur puts it like this; “Sin is in our nature, it’s in our disposition, it’s in our humanness. It’s not just in our physical body, it’s in our minds, it’s in our affections, it’s in our feelings, it’s in our emotions, it’s in our will.” This is basically the message of James 1:12-14; it is not outside forces to blame, we are carried away and enticed by our own lusts. Blaming it on our entertainment choices, environment, or the world itself is a rationalization and a failure to acknowledge that we are to blame. It is like the saying coined by Bob Jones, Sr. when he said; “No doubt the trouble is with you.”

In his message entitled “Dealing with Sin in the Heart”, John MacArthur states; "The problem is not outside of us, it's inside of us. It's not the devil who made you do it, it's not the world that is really the problem, although the devil through the system of the world produces the things that tempt, it is what's in you. We are tempted, says James, when we are carried away and enticed by our own lust. The problem is us. And when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. And in verse 16 he says, "Do not be deceived." Don't think it's any other way, that's how it is, you are the problem. The problem is in you and if you're going to deal with sin you have to deal with it on the inside, not on the outside. If you don't deal with it on the inside, you'll never stop it on the outside. I’ve said this so many times through the years, whenever sin runs loose on the outside, it’s because it’s long incubated on the inside. Sin is conceived, nurtured, incubated on the inside. All sin is incubated in the heart.”

MacArthur addresses just how we deal with sin in the heart but warns about ways that we cannot root it out. He states; “You can't do it through making rules on the outside about how people conduct themselves. If you don't get to the heart, legalism isn't going to accomplish anything. Legalism is like trying to capture people in a plastic bag, it just isn't strong enough to hold and they'll break out. Legalism will not do it. Just making rules and forcing people to conform to rules won't go. Monasticism won't do it either. Taking a vow of poverty and going off to live in a cave, if you're the only one there you just took the problem. It's you. Pietism won't do it. Trying to go through some extreme form of self-denial and spiritual flagellation and deprivation in an effort to externally discipline yourself and cut yourself off from those things that corrupt won't do it, neither will quietism, sitting back flopping somewhere saying I'm going to let go and let God. Pharisaism won't do it. Confessional booths won't do it. Rosary beads won't do it. Hail Mary's won't do it. There isn't any other external means that will do it because the instrument of killing sin on the inside, the instruments of doing that are only two...they are the Word of God and the Spirit of God. And unless that's where the concentration is, unless the focus is on the truth of God and the Spirit of God in the heart, all the stuff that deals with the outside, all the religious rituals and motions and emotions and all of the efforts that self-denial and deprivation and all the rules are meaningless. You've got to work on the problem in the heart.”

We can take a high level of comfort in two passages when it comes to dealing with this heart problem. The first is in I Corinthians 10:13 where we are told that God will not allow us to be tempted above what we are able and will make a way of escape. The flip side of this is very humbling; if I am tempted and fall into sin it is because I did not rely on God or take advantage of His way of escape. I made a conscious decision to rebel and sin and I cannot blame it on anyone or anything but myself. The other passage is found in Hebrews 4:15 where we have a High Priest; our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who was tempted in all points and yet without sin. He knows our struggles, our trials and our temptations and He has given us so many resources at our disposal to root out this inner heart problem. We have the indwelling Holy Spirit, God’s Word and the example of Jesus Christ Himself. We know it’s a battle and we know that with Jesus Christ and all of God’s resources we can prevail. The big question is are we ready to accept that no doubt the trouble is with us?

“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.” ~ James 1:12-16