As mentioned from my previous article on temptation, the first step is choosing to say ‘No’. We ought to remember that inspite and despite the circumstances, people involved, ultimately it is our personal decision to do a certain behavior causing us to sin.
My special thanks to Charles Stanley’s book of Winning the War Within who has inspired me to share this to all of you.
Unfortunately, men and women have the tendency of passing the blame… “I couldn’t control it, he made me so mad!”, “If my parents raised us better, I wouldn’t be this way”; “If only my brother will stop playing that computer game, then I’ll totally quit!” Statements like these may be true but the response of cursing when you got mad, or the choice to follow in your parents’ footsteps and the decision of playing that computer game was YOURS.
Nobody can make you do something you don’t want to do. They can only go as far as to influence, tease, trick and even force you to doing it but not MAKE you do it.But you know, the cycle of tossing the blame to others has originated not from you, your baby sister or even that cheater seatmate. It started way back from Adam and Eve. Remember when God confronted Adam about his sin?
He responded in ” The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” – Gen. 3: 12
And Eve responded, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” – Gen. 3: 13
And how did God respond? They were banished from the Garden forever. It didn’t work the first time when God and Man were as close as eye level can ever get. So what makes us think we can get away now?
Here are 5 REALITIES from which we blame our sin:
- This is who I am- Personality
- Environment – The people you spend most of the time with
- Family Background – Culture and upbringing
- The Devil
- God – (He is in control of everything)
You may be the shy type but choosing to share your thoughts about Christ among non-believers may just be the best thing you can do to a lost person.
The whole team may be partying with drinks and girls but choosing to pass in this occasion may just be the testimony one of the players need to be curious in knowing Christ.
Your family may be the Spewer type (vocal/violent when mad), but when you choose to weigh your words, you might just influence the rest.
The Devil’s best and only tactic is to tempt you. But when you choose to be disciplined by it, you will learn endurance.
And God, yes, He is in control of everything but if you shut Him out of your life, you won’t hear His voice enough telling you ‘Don’t give in!’
“So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” –2 Cor. 5: 9-10
We are all accountable to God for everything we do, whether you admit it or not. Change for the better: take responsibility
