Blame Shifting

People don’t like to take responsibility for their own actions (or reactions). You can see this start at a very early age when a child gets in trouble & will find anyone or anything to blame. I remember one Christmas I was probably 4 or 5 years old & I swung around my Love-A-Lot Care Bear & knocked off an ornament off the tree, smashing it into tiny pieces. When my mom asked who did it, I said it was Love-A-Lot’s fault!

As adults it continues, though not with stuffed animals. Here’s a few examples I tend to see:
*the Latin woman with a temper who says she can’t help it because she’s Latin & that’s just how Latin people are (or is it Mexican . . . or Hispanic?)
*the young man who’s gotten into a life of crime but says it’s only because of the environment he was raised in
*any woman who’s on “that time of the month” & is moody & snaps at anyone but says it’s only because of her “visitor” & her raging hormones
*the mother who kills her own children because she’s “bipolar” or suffering from post-partum depression

Despite the background or difficult time each of the above are going through, it does not change that their actions & reactions are sin. There are angry people no matter what their ethnic background is. No matter how bad your childhood was, you still know right from wrong. Just because you’re bloated & miserable doesn’t give you an exception to be rude & cranky; you can control it. And no “mental” problem excuses murder.

I came to realize this recently in my contentment post. Despite all that I have gone through this year, it does not excuse my lack of contentment for what God has given me. And it was something I had to stop & confess as sin & continually pray for the Lord’s grace to help me through this trial.

It really doesn’t matter if it is someone else’s fault. What we need to be focusing on is if what we are doing is glorifying God. With that as our focus, there is no need for blame shifting.