![]() When the city of Rome burned to the ground - an event most likely instigated by Nero himself - Nero pointed his finger at Christians and blamed them for starting the fire rather than face the consequences of what he had done. If the empire was grappling with financial troubles, the Christians were typically the ones blamed for the financial woes. If the weather was bad, the pagans often blamed the Christians for the bad weather. They were constantly blamed for things they didn’t do. Think of the believers who lived in the pagan Roman Empire and who faced injustice on a daily basis. And if you or I are ever treated unjustly - for instance, if we’re ever blamed for something we didn’t do - we must know how God expects us to respond to the situation. But until that time, injustice wil l occur in many forms. When Jesus comes and sets up His Kingdom on the earth, all injustice will come to an end. Yet as long as we live in this fallen world that has the devil and the influence of ungodly men, such acts of injustice will continue. Of course, such blame-shifting is unjust. They point the finger at others and say, “The y are the reason we are in thi s mess!” By pointing their fingers away from themselves and shifting the blame to someone else, they attempt to deflect the punishment they deserve themselves. When people don’t want to face the consequences of their own failure, they often look for someone else to blame. ![]() When sin entered the human race, one of the first manifestations of sinful nature was Adam’s refusal to accept responsibility for his choices and for his attempt to blame his wife for his failure. Shifting blame to someone else started all the way back in the Garden of Eden when Adam pointed his finger at Eve and blamed her for his failure to obey God. If this has ever happened to you, you know how victimized you can feel when you are accused of something you didn’t do! There is nothing worse than to be made a scapegoat for someone else’s misdeeds. If you’ve ever been accused or blamed for something you didn’t do, you know what a miserable experience it is. Or maybe you can remember a time when your siblings pointed their finger at you for something the y did, and as a result you were punished instead of them! Maybe it was a fellow church member who failed at hi s responsibility, but didn’t want to look unfaithful, so he shifted the blame on you for something you didn’t do. Has anyone ever tried to blame you for problems that had nothing to do with you? Maybe it was a fellow employee who blamed you for something h e failed to do. …We are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |