Short Thought #13: We Have a Responsibility

People in the Body of Christ tend to hold no accountability for their actions. When they slip up and make a mistake, some say, “The devil made me do it” or they make an excuse for it saying, “Well I’m only human” or “God knows my heart.” I get so tired of hearing all those lame excuses! First off, you give the devil way too much credit! When you make a mistake and black slide, it was an act of your own will! It started off with a thought, which led to an imagination and that imagination led you to fantasize and that fantasy turned into an action, and the action was a sinful one! The devil didn’t do it, you did! Look in the mirror! You have no one else to point the finger at except yourself! Next the infamous, “Well I’m only human” excuse, while it is true, guess what? SO WAS JESUS! He was an example for us, He was a second Adam. Showing us who we are truly supposed to be as Children of God and He was tempted and tested just like we are everyday. The difference is, He walked in authority and refused to fall into temptation and you have that same authority; given to you from God because of the sacrifice of Jesus (Luke 10:19 "I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you."), so you have no excuse. The third excuse, “God knows my heart” again true! Jesus said the heart of man is evil; Mark 7:21"For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts,sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery..."; Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things & beyond cure. Who can understand it?"; Matthew 15:19 "For out of the heart come evil thoughts..."So don’t pretend as though your heart was in the right place and something just happened, when in all reality it is your heart that got you into the trouble your in, in the first place! It’s time for all of us to man/woman up in the Body of Christ and be held accountable for our own actions and stop pointing the finger! We have a responsibility. The grace God has placed us under has called us into a higher standard. Righteousness is what God does, Holiness is what we do. God deals with our character and we deal with our conduct. God gave you all the tools you need to fight and overcome temptation, USE THEM!