Rev. William Watson
Are you a Christian who gets worked up about politics, letting your blood pressure rise and making no bones about your hatred for Republican senators and congressman for the way they have treated President Barack Obama? Church people can quickly view others as being sinners, especially Republicans, and they are right.
Every Republican that ever lived has been a sinner, and so has every Democrat, Libertarian, every Tea Party member and every Liberal and Progressive. Some may be better at sinning than others, but they are all sinners, and so are we.
Whose fault was it that we ended up being prone toward sin? In Genesis 3, the blame gets passed around to just about everybody. First, we have Adam. Who does he blame? God says to Adam: “who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” Notice God didn’t ask him who was at fault. He asked what Adam had done. The man said, “The woman you put here with me. She gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” It’s not my fault, it’s hers, like he wasn’t even there, or like he couldn’t help himself. This is one of the peculiarities of what people do when they’re caught sinning.
People who sin often get angry and put down others around them. Just look at the two presidential candidates and the anger cast at one another. Adam isn’t the only one passing the buck. Eve blames Satan.
Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” Notice God didn’t ask her who influenced her to do it. The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate,” Genesis 3:13. This accusation has a little more validity than the one Adam tried. In 1 Timothy 2:14, we’re told that “Adam was not deceived, but the woman was.
Satan deceived Eve, and God punished Adam for it. Does this mean that Satan caused Eve to sin? No. He deceived her into making the choice she made, but she made the choice. God despises those who deceive others, leading them into sin. God regards anyone who tempts another into sin as being as evil as Satan himself. Satan has his limitations. He can’t force us to sin. The tendency of blaming others is as old as creation, and it’s just as useless. It didn’t work for Adam and it won’t work for you and me. Think about it: God said the day they ate of the tree they would die. I believe the problem is they didn’t trust God.
Christians today are living in the same way. We believe God, but we don’t trust God to take care of the things we want taken care of at our convenience. That’s why men like Donald Trump can take advantage when he says “I can make America great. I can fix things. I can change things. I can make things happen.” The churches today are falling into the same trap of not trusting God. Men are telling congregations they can make things bigger and better and more exciting. A lot of Christians today are losing their closeness with God because they don’t trust God.
My weekly prayer is that the reader of this commentary becomes spiritually inspired of God. Contact Expressions of Faith at P.O. Box 330127, Nashville Tenn. 37203; or e-mail <watsonwr68@gmail.com>. God bless!
