Hello Everyone,
Welcome to Soul Survival and the “Rock Your Faith” series.
As I shared in the first post, something happened almost 20 years ago that rocked my walk with God and my husband’s, as well. It eventually rippled out into every part of our lives as we realized living life sold out to God (though far from perfectly) is a far better way to live.
Last week in Rock Your Faith: The Danger of Self-Imposed Blindness, I began sharing some of the principles we learned during that time and since then that have helped us grow and change.
I want to stress that this isn’t about self-effort. It’s not about being good enough or earning God’s favor. It’s definitely not something we could have done on our own or can continue to do on our own. Every light bulb that went on, every change that happened, and any growth that may happen in the future came about and continues only because of God’s grace and power.
There is nothing special about us. If you are a believer in Christ, God has the same plan to grow you and change you (Eph. 4.14-15). In fact, you may already be much farther down the road of spiritual maturity than we are. But, hopefully, each of you will glean some nuggets as we go through these principles.
This week’s subject is at the heart of our ability to grow and change. Without it, our growth will be stunted at best.
Rock Your Faith: Personal Accountability & Snowplow Parents
“It’s Not My Fault!”
One of the first things to go when our spiritual ancestors decided to disobey God and eat the forbidden fruit was any sense of personal accountability or responsibility.
Adam failed to take responsibility for his newly formed family and watched while Eve talked to the serpent, drooled over the fruit, and finally ate it. In fact, he followed her lead and ate it, too (Gen. 3.1-6). Eve ignored what she knew to be God’s instructions and her responsibility to obey them.
When God came looking for them, instead of facing the consequences, they hid. And when God asked them directly if they had eaten the fruit, the blame-shifting started (Gen. 3.7-13). Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the devil as hundreds of sermons have rightfully pointed out.
But blame-shifting didn’t end with them. We hear it from our children. We hear it from friends and we hear it from foes. And if we’re honest, we have probably heard it from our own mouths, as well.
Some self-help writers and therapists have even turned it into a cottage industry by confirming our desire to believe, “It’s not my fault!”
Personal Accountability
Yet, the Bible presents a different picture of our personal responsibility and our accountability before God.
This is not to say that there aren’t tests, trials, and temptations that can challenge even the best intentions to obey God and love others. We have all been sinned against. We’ve been hurt, mistreated, disrespected, rejected and the list could go on. All those things tempt us to blame people and circumstances for our misdeeds.
Modern life itself is full of temptations. At dinner with friends last night, someone said, it seems as if the devil has more weapons than ever with which to tempt us. The internet and social media, for starters.
Yet, God, His Word, and His standards do not change (Mal. 3.6; Heb. 13.8).
God’s Promise in Tests, Trials & Temptations
1 Corinthians 10.13 says a great deal about God’s promises and our personal accountability. It reads:
No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
Let’s look at that verse phrase by phrase.
First, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man.” As Matthew Henry says, “either our trials will be proportioned to our strength or strength will be supplied in proportion to our temptations.”
Next, “God is faithful.” We serve a faithful God. He never leaves us or forsakes us (Heb. 13.5). He gives us the desire and the power to do what pleases him (Phil. 2.13 NLT).
He will not allow us “to be tempted beyond what [we] are able.” Even Satan himself is under God’s sovereign power and authority (Job 1.12, 2.6).
“[B]ut with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it..” This does not mean that God will get us out of every difficult situation. Often, the way of escape is through the trial. In fact, God tells us we can count it all joy when we encounter trials. The New Living Translation says it this way:
… consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing (Jas. 1.2-4).
These are great promises but the truth is that this is good news and bad. We have just looked at the good news of God’s sovereign control, His faithfulness, and His ability to use it all for good.
The bad news is that because of these promises if we choose to sin, it was just that, a choice. We are accountable.
Personal Responsibility
Not only are we accountable for our wrong choices in thoughts, words, and actions, we are responsible to rely on God’s grace, power, and wisdom to live righteously and make wise choices (Eph. 4.22-24).
Proverbs tells us that wisdom is calling out to us (Prov. 1.20-22). Those of us who know God have been commanded to treasure God’s Word (Prov. 2.1-2), to hide it in our hearts (Ps. 119.11), and to live by it (Jas. 1.22-25). Proverbs warns us repeatedly of the consequences of foolishness and the rewards of wise living. God has given us full disclosure.
Even unbelievers have a conscience and common grace to know right and wrong (Rom. 2.12-16).
In fact, Romans 1 tells us that creation itself is enough to make every person accountable to God:
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.
So, why do we waste so much time and energy blaming others or our circumstances for our failures? And what would happen if we stopped?
For This Christ Died
While it goes against our sin nature, taking responsibility for our sins is the way to God’s blessings.
He who covers his sins will not prosper,
But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy (Prov. 28.13).
As believers, we must fully embrace all that Jesus did on the cross and remember it’s for sin that Christ died. It’s by taking responsibility and confessing our sin that we receive His grace and forgiveness.
And as we confess our sins to others without minimizing, excusing, or blame-shifting, relationships are often healed and others are encouraged to be more honest and transparent about their sin. But we must be careful to stay focused on ourselves (Matt. 7.3-5) and not expect anything in return.
Snowplow Parents
So, what does all this have to do with “snowplow parents”?
First, what is a snowplow parent? According to the New York Times, “‘snowplow parents’ keep their children’s futures obstacle-free — even when it means crossing ethical and legal boundaries.”
If you have been watching recent news events, you have seen this lived out in the ongoing college admissions scandal. But before we sprain something pointing at her and her and them, could we be guilty of much the same to one degree or another?
In our self-righteousness, we congratulate ourselves that we would never do anything illegal or unethical. We’re not like them.
But how often do we try to make life easy for our children in ways that keep them from learning responsibility and accountability?
We must have the courage to allow our children to suffer the consequences of bad choices early in life so, like many of us, they don’t have to learn those lessons the hard way. We need to help them respond biblically when others sin against them and not use it as an excuse to sin in response.
We shouldn’t deprive them of the struggle and satisfaction of working for their own goals.
We need to teach them to be accountable. And we need to help them become dependent on God and not us as they grow.
Becoming more like Christ is far more important in light of eternity than GPAs, future earnings, or living a pain-free life. It’s just as important in our lives. But that growth in holiness only comes as we accept responsibilities for ourselves, stop blaming others, and grow in our willingness to humble ourselves before God and others.
Blessings as you grow in Christ,
Donna
I sometimes LINKUP with these blogs.
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