Lacking Accountability: Blaming God For Your Actions

Humans have a very difficult time accepting responsibility for their actions. Here are common responses to the plagues that humans engulf themselves in:
Addiction: They can’t control it, it’s a disease and it consumes them, they just can’t help it 
Abuse: They have an anger problem, they can’t control it, they just can’t help it.
Lust: It’s harmless, everyone does it, they just can’t help it.
Financial Problems: It’s the economy, they have a hard time finding a job, they just can’t help it.

The list goes on and on, but one argument applies to all sin that humans partake in: “they just can’t help it.” Friends and family enable sinful behavior because the alternative is just too hard; to make someone be held accountable for their actions. People who are consumed by sin blame God for their problems and turn to idols instead of Jesus. Humans take comfort in their idols, regardless of how miserable they become – and it’s all God’s fault.

“Why does God let this happen to me?” “If God loved me, He would fix my problems.” “God doesn’t care about me and that is why I suffer.” Those statements are nothing more than lies that idolaters tell because those are the lies Satan tells them. It’s far easier to blame God for your problems, misery, and distance from God than it is to confront yourself with your own sins.

Many sins of humans are the result of idolatry. Idolatry places an earthly object of worship between you and God. Idolatry removes Jesus from your focus and replaces Him with something that gives you a feeling of instant gratification instead of waiting patiently on the Lord through prayer and service. The result of that idolatry is usually similar to the human emotion of misery. Idolatry is destructive to your physical, spiritual, and personal well-being; when you worship your idols instead of God, you begin to blame God.

Idolatry causes you to use your body to sin, to keep you away from God and will allow for Satan to convince you that your actions are not your own – but that God is allowing your misery to happen to you. The exact opposite is true; if you do not praise and give thanks to God in all circumstances, you cannot blame Him for every thing that doesn’t go your way. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (NIV).”

It’s time to stop playing the blame game; it’s time to take control of your actions and kick your idols and sin out of your life. “For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do — living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry;” (1 Peter 4:3, NIV).

Enough is enough.

God is not to blame.

God does not tell you to sin; God wants you to turn away from your sin and bathe yourself in His forgiveness and grace.

It’s time to cut loose your excuses and let go of blaming God. It’s time to follow God’s commands; as God has promised, all that comes from Him is good. He wants you to cast out your idols and come home to Him; God’s standards have no excuses. “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: Sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5, NIV). All sin is nothing more than idol worship; sin is the seeking of instant physical gratification, validation, and vanity. To succumb to sins and idolatry is to use your body against God and will give you the false sense of security as you worship your sins and yourself.

Psalm 16:4 says, “Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more (NIV);” Psalm 16:4 doesn’t say that God gives you misery, God makes you suffer, or that God makes you sin. Psalm 16:4 says “Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more…” Those who run – not to Jesus, but to other gods, or idols, sin.  Satan has given mankind the ability to lack accountability by shifting personal responsibility on to a blame game: Just Blame God. By blaming God, human accountability is removed from the equations; excuses are nothing more than lies Satan tells you to allow you to continue to sin and worship your idols.

Your idols will not save your eternal soul; only the blood of Christ will save you. Jesus tells you that no one will get to the Father but through Him; not through your earthly idols. “Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble! (Judges 10:14, NIV)” You must choose: Jesus or your sins. You cannot have it both ways.

Kool-Aid vs. Blood: Gut Check Your Beverage of Choice

The sweet, sugary taste of Kool-Aid; it’s quenching and delicious. More importantly, it’s easy to swallow. Your taste buds are pleased with the taste of Kool-Aid and that sweet drink calls you back for more and more. You refill your cup time and time again; though it is void of all nutritional value and can cause debilitating diseases that will lead to death if untreated or rectified – you just can’t help yourself! You’re addicted! In fact, you LOVE sugary drinks: Coke, Mountain Dew, Pepsi, Sunny D! These fantastic drinks that taste so delicious can’t possibly cause death – a few sips won’t hurt anything. But, you drink so much of it that you develop diabetes, high cholesterol, and heart problems from all that sugar…all that sugar is sending your body straight to death.

Have a glass of…blood. Blood? Blood is bitter, metallic-like. Blood leaves a bad taste in your mouth. That first taste of blood from biting your tongue causes  you to reach for the first thing you can find to wash that taste out of your mouth…here, have some Kool-Aid. Kool-Aid makes it all better. Kool-Aid takes the bitterness away, it calms the taste buds and tricks you into thinking you’ve been quenched! You can’t stand one drop of blood in your mouth, no way you would drink a whole glass of it. Drinking blood will not necessarily give you any extra health benefits – but it won’t lead to a slow and painful death like Kool-Aid will.

Drinking a cup of blood is radical, especially compared to drinking a cup of Kool-Aid. And we live in a world that LOVES to drink Kool-Aid. We live in a world that likes to sugar coat the truth because it’s easier to swallow; it makes our brains feel better. No one like the cold, hard truth. The cold hard truth is…bitter…hard to swallow…radical…blood.

Many churches and doctrine today love to give out cups of Kool-Aid, red Kool-Aid, nonetheless. It looks like blood, but it’s not bitter. It’s watered down, full of sugar, and fake. But it’s red. The Gospel of Red Kool-Aid takes the truth of Jesus and fills it with water and sugar; it’s easier to swallow, it’s widely accepted, it’s socially acceptable. The Gospel according to Red Kool-Aid enables sin, it promotes sin, and it accepts sin. In fact, the Gospel according to Red Kool-Aid will twist the Word of God to make sure you continue to sin. The Gospels according to Red Kool-Aid give you the impression that you will not die because it’s so widely accepted by society; that is some dangerous stuff, and it’s definitely not blood.

Truth, real truth, is found in the blood of Christ – it’s found in the Gospels. Not the Gospels according to Red Kool-Aid. The Gospels according to Red Kool-Aid is watered down, sugary, and will lead to your death. Physical and spiritual. The Gospels according to Red Kool-Aid tell people, “just believe that Jesus died for your sins and love everyone. Congratulations, you’re saved.” The Gospels according to Red Kool-Aid tell you that “you’re a sinner, you just can’t help yourself, you live in a fallen world and Jesus saved you.” The Gospels according to Red Kool-Aid make the blood of Jesus wasted; He did not die in vain. Lay off the Kool-Aid.

The blood of Jesus tells you the truth. It’s bitter, it’s biting, it shakes you up and it’s hard to swallow. The blood of Jesus tells you that, “yes, Jesus died for your sins, through His grace you are saved – sin no more.” Sin no more. (John 8:1-11) The blood of Jesus doesn’t make excuses for your sin, and it certainly does not tell you to keep sinning because you just can’t help yourself. You can help yourself – through the blood of Jesus, you’re not a sinner – you’re a saint. You’re not a saint by saying some words that sound “religious” or that proclaim that Jesus died for your sins. You are a saint because you’ve been made new through the blood and truth of Christ and you TURN AWAY FROM SIN.

The blood of Jesus confronts you and requires you to be honest – do you sin? Do you support the sin of others? Do you give your friends and family cups of Kool-Aid to win their favor? Kool-Aid tells you that if you’re a good person and you do good things, you have earned favor with God. Kool-Aid tells you that it’s OK to support the sins of your friends and family because Jesus loves them anyway. Matthew 7:13-14 tells us that the path and gate to eternal life are narrow – not wide. The eternal kingdom is to be free of sin, not filled with feel good, watered down excuses of ‘living in a fallen world.’

You can help yourself. You can choose to stay away from the Kool-Aid – pick up some real truth. The world will tell you its radical, and the truth of Jesus is very radical compared to this ‘feel-goodery’ world. The truth of Jesus will punch you in the stomach at first – but the more exposure to it you have, the less you desire anything else. The more you ingest the truth of Jesus, the less you accept and you’re even repulsed by what this world has to offer. Because what Jesus offers is so much greater…and forever. The only drink that brings you to eternal life is the blood of Jesus, the pure hard truth written in the Bible. It challenges you, it pushes you, it forces you to evaluate everything you think you know.