For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. - John 3:17-18.

Have you ever been sued? I was once sued while I was a parole officer by a house arrest client. He sued claiming false arrest and was asking for $40,000 in damages. He had been sent back to prison for a violation of the rules and conditions of his release. How did he violate them? He assaulted his girlfriend giving her a severe beating. He could have been charged with an additional law violation for the assault, however, since he was being returned to prison for a lengthy period the assistant district attorney decided not to pursue those charges. He should have been happy that he would not have several additional years of prison time tacked onto his time to serve, but instead he blamed me for his problems. The state attorney general’s office handled the lawsuit, and it was eventually dismissed. However, it did hang over my head for many months with the thought that with the right jury I could be paying $40,000 to this guy.

I have lost track of the number of times that I have heard someone blaming God for something. Many of those times it was someone cursing God for one thing or another and whenever something bad would happen the curse words would spew out of their mouths. Whose fault is it that someone drinks, gets into their vehicle and drives while intoxicated resulting in an arrest or worse an accident? Is it God’s fault that this happened? Whose fault is it that someone has an affair and their spouse finds out resulting in a messy divorce? Is that God’s fault? Whose fault is it that after a s_xual encounter one of the individuals involved ends up with a STD? Is that God’s fault? On the Day of Judgment when the book is opened and your name is not found whose fault is that? Is it God’s fault that you have rejected Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?

I like the way that The Message translates James 1:14-15, "The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer." We have no one to blame but ourselves for the consequences of sin. When we reject Christ as our Savior, we condemn ourselves, we send ourselves to hell for eternity. As Paul says in Galatians 6, "... for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption…." It is a description of a spiritual law. Much like the law of gravity enables you to know what will happen if you jump off of the Empire State Building. The result is that you will be hurt and no one is to blame for the consequences except yourself.

So if you have been blaming God for everything bad that happens in your life perhaps it is time to reassess your position because God loves you so much that He "…gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16)."