Justifying Wrongdoing

Just as Satan deceived Eve by telling her a lie, so too must we be cautiousnot to believe the lies we tell ourselves in order to make sin sweeter toour own soul.

Let us look at the following examples.

A husband commits adultery. When his wife finds out, he does not take fullresponsibility of his sinful action, but instead, attempts to justify sin byplacing a large portion of the blame on his wife. "Well, if you showed me more affection, then I wouldn't have had to go looking for it elsewhere," hemight insist.

In another scenario, a boyfriend hits his girlfriend, issuing her a blackeye. The following day, he cooks her breakfast, buys flowers, and blames hislack of control on her, stating, "I'm sorry for losing control, but youshould know it makes me insanely jealous when you talk to other guys. If youwouldn't have gotten me so angry, this wouldn't have happened."

In this last situation, a woman on her way home from a stressful day at theoffice is cut off by another car. The woman has such a volatile bout of roadrage that she reaches in to her purse, and using a small pistol she carriesfor safety, shoots at the offending driver while screaming at himhysterically. Thankfully, no one is hurt. While in court, the woman tells thejudge, "I didn't mean to overreact, but I felt he was driving unsafely andwas a risk to my life. Had he not cut me off, I would not have lost my temperin this terrible way."

All of these cases consist of individuals who refuse to be accountable fortheir own actions. Pride, selfishness, and spiritual blindness has allowedthese individuals to not see the WHOLE picture, but only a small portion ofthe picture, which often selfishly and pridefully tends to be veryself-serving.

Why is it so difficult for us to admit we may have been wrong, or there mayhave been a better way of handling a situation? Are we so prideful that thatwe have claimed godlike status? Will God love us less if He knows we may haveerred?

No one, but God, is perfect, and that is why God sent His Son to die on thecross for our sins. God, in all His loving kindness, knew that man was animperfect being, and it is only through our ardent pursuit of righteousnessthat we may be saved. However, how can man pursue righteousness if he isblind and unwilling to open his eyes to his own unrighteousness? Unless weopen our eyes fully to see the whole picture, not just the small parts thatpertain to us, and then half the truth is still not truth. Had the woman in thelast scenario been fully honest, she would have admitted to herself thatalthough her fear over what she felt was a man who unsafely cut her off theroad, was justified, how she reacted to that reality was not just, and infact, was wrong. Had she also been brutally honest with her self, she wouldhave also admitted her own unsafe excess speed, as well as a history of avolatile temper that often causes her to overreact. And finally, had thiswoman truly sought truth and righteousness in this case, she would haveadmitted her own dangerous act of shooting at another driver, offering him asincere apology for handling the situation in such a poor fashion.

How easy it is to see the flaws in others, but do we have the courage topoint this same critical finger at our self, inspecting all corners of ourlife?

When Christ hung upon the cross stripped of all his clothes, he allowedhimself to made vulnerable as he took the stings of the crown of thorns, thelashings, the dagger to his side, and piercing to his flesh from nails. WhileChrist was guilty of no sin, yet allowed him self to take on the weight ofsin so that we might have life, isn't the least we can do in honor andgratitude of this sacrifice is being accountable for our own wrongdoing?

If you're interested, there is more information about:
The most important event of all time and
The most important Book of all time.

email this message to a friend   |   DW Home

Contributed by Melanie Schurr (Copyright (c)2003 Melanie Schurr) Melanie Schurr is author of "Ecstatic Living Ecstatic Loving: How to have more peace and joy in marriage, and life in general by walking in harmony with God," and "Son Salutations: A refreshing collection of modern inspirations for those who seek God each day." For more information, visit her web page at www.angelfire.com/mi/melschurr