TAKING CREDIT AND ASSIGNING BLAME
Dear friends,
Recently I was told of a conversation. One man was telling another man that scientists had discovered that traumatic experiences, even as a young baby, changes them physically, and this change persists throughout life. He went on to say that he had been told by relatives that his mom didn’t like holding him and would let him cry for long periods of time. He believed that this explained why he was prone to depression and several other problems. Now I have no idea whether science has proven such things and I am not going to comment on it. However, this conversation shines some light on a human problem that often goes unrecognized, and helps show that we are fallen. There is an infamous story in the Old Testament about Ehud, who stabs a shiv deep into the belly of King Eglon, the oppressor. (Judges 3:12-30) The shiv goes in so deeply that the King’s fat swallows the shiv, and as the King dies, he empties his bowls. At the beginning of the story we are told that, “…the Lord strengthened Eglon the King of Moab against Israel …” (vs 12), then the conquest of part of Israel occurred. Most Canadians think that having hard things happen to you is a good reason to believe that the God of the Bible does not exist. Implicit in this habit of the modern mind is the idea, rarely stated, that if God wants to be known, He should give good things to people. Yet the story of Eglon King of Moab challenges this thinking. In the story, King Eglon never pauses to ask himself whether his alliance, arms buildup, military invasion, and 18 years of power might be from the Lord. In fact, the opposite happens, King Eglon becomes more and more arrogant, and it is his arrogance that contributes to his death. A couple of points.
First, if being blessed by God is the way God should make Himself known if He wants to have many followers, then is that empirically true? Are our churches packed with devout rich people and completely empty of the poor and lower-working class? Don’t we see the truth of first Corinthians 1:18-31? Don’t we see the story of King Eglon acted out time and time again? This is not to say there are no rich or successful people who are devout Christians. There are and praise God for them, and the rest of God’s less successful children. It is to say that it often seems that being blessed with money, power, acclaim and health does not lead people to ask themselves whether God is the source.
Second, we Christians are human, and we Canadian Christians are Canadian. This means we cannot talk about all this as if we are immune to the problem. The story I told at the beginning about the man and his problems, he is a Christian. The fact is, in my own heart and in yours, there is a very powerful and habitual push to blame someone or something for the bad or hard parts of our lives, but take the credit for the excellent and successful parts of our lives. Think about the young man’s story again. Why does he say his mom leaving him to cry is responsible for his depression, but not his creativity or his intelligence? Why is it that we easily believe we are responsible for our successes and blessings and don’t marvel at God’s giving the gift? It is because Genesis 3 is true. We want to be like God, but when things go wrong, we pass the blame.
Third, we need to cling to grace and pray for gentleness with one another. The fact of the matter is I cannot leave myself to fix myself. Even if I can leave myself to fix myself it won’t work, because the “I” that leaves is also fallen. Only God in His grace and mercy can act to save us, and this He has done with grace and power in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ crucified. We also need the grace of gentleness. The fact is our bodies are not all equal. Some of us have very unflattering and uncooperative flesh – more prone to violence or addictions or depression or … Conversion does not usually mean our bodies are changed. We need to wait for His return or the New Heaven and Earth, for this to happen. In the meantime, some of us have far greater challenges if we are to grow in holiness. Pray that we pray for each other more.
George+