As Christians, we need to stop giving the devil so much credit than he deserves. Yes, the devil does tempt us, as we can see in Genesis 3, where Satan tempted Eve.
“And he said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” “Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.'”
Genesis 3:11-13 (NLT)
The devil knows what we struggle with, and he wants to get us to drift away from God. This is the thing, though. The devil can’t make us do anything. Sometimes we willingly sin and know that it isn’t what we should be doing. Instead of taking responsibility for our actions, we blame it on the devil. I’ve done that too many times before, so I know what I’m talking about. As we are told in the Bible, we are sometimes tempted by our cravings.
“And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. Temptation comes from our own desires, which entices us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.”
James 1:3-15 (NLT)
It’s important to start taking accountability for our own actions. The mindset of “I was tempted” and “the devil made me do it” should not justify our actions. Of course, the devil knows our cravings, and he uses that to tempt us, but he doesn’t have the power to make us do anything if we yield to the Holy Spirit’s leading. Most of the time, we know what we are doing, and we just place the blame on the devil because that is the most convenient thing to do. We cannot let Satan take the blame for every time we sin deliberately. Saying the devil made me do it is an excuse for our own choices.
“For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.”
Hebrews 10:26-27 (NLT)
It’s very convenient to point fingers at other people when things don’t go according to plan in our lives, but little do we know that when we blame other people, we are basically giving them control of our lives
When things go wrong in your life, I want to propose that perhaps you should take the blame, even if it isn’t entirely your fault. Find where you could have been better. Why? I think by doing this, you put the ball in your court to improve things. When you blame others, there is no guarantee that things will improve because you can’t change the behavior of anyone but yourself.
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