It's Not My Fault

Truth or dare.

     Truth.

What is the worst sin you've ever committed?

     Huh?

Tell us your biggest sin.

     My worst sin?  The biggest sin?  

Yeah.  Something really bad.  What's the worst thing you've ever done?

     I've done a lot of stupid things and sinned against God big time.

But have you ever done anything really bad like kill someone or commit adultery or sell drugs?  Something that you could go to hell for?

     The truth is ... we all deserve to go to hell for our sins.  And without Jesus that is where we will     spend eternity.  

We love to classify sin.  It makes us feel better.  Generally speaking we are more tolerant of our own sin than we are of someone else who sins the same way.

But what about sin?  Is it really that bad?  What if societal trends change the way we look at sin?  Or maybe it's not sin because it's not my fault I'm this way.

The longer I live and the deeper my relationship with Jesus becomes, the more He allows me to see my sin. Truth is ... God is holy.  We can try to minimize God's holiness so we are more comfortable in our sin, but it doesn't change the fact that He is holy.

We are all born into sin.  Remember what happened in the garden?

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.  “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.  Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.  But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, 

and I ate it.”

Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

It's not my fault.  Besides the serpent said we would not die.  And the serpent's explanation seemed more reasonable and less inhibiting.  God makes rules just to keep us from enjoying life and having a good time.  If He is a loving God, He won't punish us for our sins.  If He punishes us for our sins then He must not be a loving God.  This is just the way I am.  This is the way God made me.  It's not my fault.

We are all born into sin.  It doesn't matter what family you are born into.  It doesn't matter which country you are born in.  All of us have a sin nature when we enter life here on earth.  Fortunately, God has made a way for our punishment to be canceled.  Our debt is paid.  Our life redeemed.  

God loves us the way we are.  Yay!  Best news ever.  There isn't anything we can do to earn God's love. However, just because He loves us the way we are, our relationship with Him doesn't end there. Remember, we are all sinners.  His love for us in our sinful state doesn't make our sin acceptable.  His love for us as sinners should cause us to be broken before Him.  His love for us should be sufficient reason to despise our sin, not flaunt it as acceptable. 

In the course of getting to know God through reading His Word and intimate conversations, we see our need for His grace and forgiveness.  In Isaiah we read, 

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.  And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;

    the whole earth is full of his glory.”

 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

Isaiah saw the Lord.  He heard the seraphim proclaim the holiness of the Lord.  In that moment, in the presence of the Almighty, Isaiah was keenly aware of his sin.  

We can keep our distance from God's presence and possibly become comfortable in our sin.  But do not be deceived.  Our acceptance of sin does not alter it's origin or influence it's reality.  No matter how favorably we choose to view certain sin, or how benign we feel the consequence to be, we will always be wrong.  Sin separates us from God.  The only way to be washed clean from our sin is through the blood of Jesus.  Our hope of eternal life in fellowship with God is through the gift of grace.  

The words "it's not my fault" from our lips will never skew the truth or sway the verdict when we are in the presence of the Holy and Almighty Lord.  The only One truly able to say, "It's not my fault" is Jesus.  He suffered severely because of our sin even though He had never sinned. Even Pilot declared, "I find no fault in Him." As He hung on a cross, giving His life as payment for ours, His heart toward the Father was, "Don't hold this against them.  They don't know what they're doing."  

Every aspect of our life must be placed at the foot of the cross.  Every ounce of our being must submit to the holy authority of a holy God.  Everything within us should cry out to the Father for mercy.  Every heart transformed, holy and without blemish.

I'm pretty sure the lamest excuse or defense anyone would want to utter when standing before God in judgment is, "It's not my fault." Rather, we should declare, "I'm a sinner saved by grace. The blood of Jesus paid my debt. And although I've done nothing to deserve a place in Your kingdom, I am Yours."