I accidentally ran across this article the other day from an old God's Revivalist,
called "Blaming the Church."
"No church or person always gets it right, and that includes you and
me. So don’t throw stones until you are free of guilt yourself (John
8:7). Though churches and Christians sometimes fail at loving and
“glitch out” on overloads of ignorance, most of them do want to help. To
fix these glitches, believers need to learn about others and their problems.
"Therefore, instead of criticizing or withdrawing, try to get to know the
people of your church and do all you can to let them know you and trust
you. It is sure that you can never build trust by running from problems or
people; and even in the church, the best relationships often are made
through the arduous but rewarding task of resolving problems."
Never blame your problems and your inability to correct misbehavior
on others. The truth is that you must confront the real issues of your life
and with God’s assistance assume control over them. Richard Bach said,
“Within each of us lies the power of our consent to health and sickness,
to riches and poverty, to freedom and to slavery. It is we who control
these, and not another.” This same truth is underscored by Albert Einstein
who said, “Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment
and learn again to exercise his will—his personal responsibility.”
Don’t adopt Adam and Eve’s approach to personal responsibility by
releasing their grip on it as if it were a hot pan in an unprotected hand.
Adam blamed Eve for giving him the fruit and also blamed God for giv-
ing him Eve. Eve also refused to take the blame, because the serpent had
deceived her. So often we are like that. We ourselves are encumbered
with imperfections and failures, but we still demand perfection of the
church and its members, blaming them for negative situations that we
have created. To be sure, the church does fail at times; but far too often
people blame it without giving it a fair chance.
Some even leave the church to protect themselves from the weight
of personal responsibility and the discomfort of accountability which it
rightfully expects. Remember that according to the Scripture we are to
submit to the church and cherish its leaders who take responsibility for
our spiritual welfare (Heb. 13:17; 1 Tim. 5:17).
It is too common for us to assume roles in the “games of life” in
order
to manipulate others and our environment to get what we want.
How easy it is to assume a victim’s role because a victim
“cannot” be responsible for his behavior. Let me, therefore, urge you to make
a courageous choice to change your role in life from victim to victor.
Christ” includes His Body on earth. Excuses bind you in the victim role. Faith,
surrender to God, courage to change, and submission to biblical authority can
propel you into a victorious flight of freedom! Examine the following pas-
sages: Jn. 8:31-36; Rom. 6:1-18; 8:1-9; 1 Pet. 2:13-25
from the "Mending Nets" section of the September, 2005, issue of God's Revivalist,
by Richard Miles.
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