He Did It!...Or Did He?

ALL – Psalm 68:1-18
ALL – Proverbs 11:28
OT – Deuteronomy 4:1-49
NT – Luke 6:39-7:10

I find that adults really haven’t grown up all that much. Not just a few of us. All of us.

Think about it. Watch some kids. See what happens when someone—anyone—tries to confront them about doing something wrong.

“I didn’t do it.”

“Michael did it.”

“Emma did it”

Or, if they’re at least willing to admit that they hit, or screamed at, or pulled another kid’s hair: “Emma made me.” “Michael made me.” “It wasn’t my fault.”

Adults do the same thing. We still seek to justify ourselves. We either seek to deny that we did anything wrong, or if we did something wrong, we STILL try to show people that it wasn’t our fault, that we have good hearts. Something happened, and we had to make the best of a bad situation. Someone else made us angry, and we responded wrongly. She seduced us and led us into adultery. We couldn’t help it!

It’s always someone else’s fault, someone else’s responsibility, someone else’s problem. Even if we admit our sin, in some way someone else’s sin or some outside situation is the real problem. Not us. Not our hearts. Not our choices.

Jesus puts that myth to rest:

A good man produces good deeds from a good heart. And an evil man produces evil deeds from his hidden wickedness. Whatever is in the heart overflows into speech. – Luke 6:45, The Living Bible

Whatever is in the heart overflows. Into speech, yes, but into deeds, too. This verse talks about both. Our hearts are the real problem. Yes, we may face terrible circumstances. We may even face terrible opponents. But the way we respond to them is not their decision. It’s ours. And the choice we make is, in each circumstance, the choice we most wanted to make. Of course we wouldn’t have chosen to commit our particular sin in a more comfortable setting! But in a painful, frustrating, or even scary setting, we acted the way we most wanted to act. And it revealed our hearts.

God is God not just when times are good. But when they’re bad. Do you think He gave us His Word to guide us only through the easy times of life? Of course not! As much as we need His guidance during the easy days, it’s the tough days where we really have to lean on His wisdom, His grace, His faithfulness, His righteousness. It’s the tough days—and the tough people—who help to reveal our hearts. But it’s not their fault our hearts are the way they are.

Let’s ask God to help us confess our sins, confess our wrong thoughts, confess our wrong desires, and confess our need for Him.

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.