Several years ago, comedian Flip Wilson played a woman named Geraldine. Geraldine was a worldly woman who was always scheming. When her schemes got her into trouble, as they frequently did, her favorite excuse was: "The devil made me do it."
Like Geraldine, man is always trying to excuse his sinfulness and transfer his guilt to someone else. By creating extenuating circumstances man seeks to ease his guilt or at least have it lessened considerably in the eyes of others and the Lord. The scriptures, however, make it clear that every person will make an accounting to the Lord (Rom 2:5-6); that accounting will be for the things we have done in this life, both pleasing and displeasing to the Lord. This has been true since the days of Adam. He had to account for what he had done in his life. His sins were his own, he did not bear the sins of Cain or Eve. So it is with us. We are responsible for our own actions not those of someone else and it is for these actions we will have to account to the Lord. Life is a stewardship given to us by the Lord. We are his creation and he expects us to use our stewardship wisely so we can help others, and by working together establish the kingdom of God on earth.
In a court of law, evidence must be presented before a judgment can be rendered. When we stand before the Lord to be judged the only evidence we can present to him is how well we have lived our lives and the words we have used. If we have nothing but self-serving interests and idle chatter to present, the Lord will judge us on the basis of that evidence and reward us accordingly. (Matt 12:36, Jude 1:15, 2 Cor. 5:10)
Romans 3:23 tells us that "all have sinned and come short of the glory God." When we refuse to acknowledge that we are sinners we compound this offense. The Lord Jesus Christ willingly offered his life on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. His sacrifice made it possible for us, through repentance, to have our sins, past and present, washed away by His blood. Jesus"' sacrifice also assures us that we will continue to be forgiven as long as we continue to repent. However, we must show by our "fruits," that our lives are changing for the better. We cannot continually repeat the same sins and expect to be forgiven. We are to learn from our mistakes and become kingdom quality people. We are to become a people that are pure and holy before the Lord. By trying to transfer our guilt to someone or something else, we negate the Lord"'s sacrifice. Satan is the ultimate evil but he is not solely responsible for all of the sin in the world. Man, by his very nature is sinful and must bear the consequences of his choices. Every evil choice we make, every profane word we utter, every rebellious act we commit is not always the result of the temptations we face, frequently they are the result of conscious decisions on our part.
Sin is the destructive force that leads us away from the Lord, repentance is the positive action that brings us back to him. However, we cannot repent once and never think of it again. We must continually humble ourselves and follow in the Lord"'s footsteps so we can maintain our repentant attitude. Before we can truly repent, we must admit to ourselves our culpability in sin. Once we have done that, we can approach the Lord in honesty and humility, and with a broken heart and contrite spirit. Then he is free to wash us clean in the blood of his Only Begotten Son.
Once we have been washed clean in the blood of Jesus, we can begin to fulfill the measure of our creation; working together with our brothers and sisters, under the direction of the Holy Ghost, to build the kingdom of God on earth, thus glorifying his holy name.
All scriptural references are from the King James Version.