Nena Arias | May 1, 2023
“But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.”
(James 1:14)
The devil gets too much credit and people easily shrug off the responsibility of their bad decisions by simply blaming the devil. I am sure you have heard the expression “the devil made me do it!”
It is easy to give glory and praise to God for what comes out right because we rejoice in it, but it is all too easy to place blame on the devil for our wrong actions. Where is our accountability? More often than not, when we have prayed about something and God answers in the positive like being able to pay our bills on time, or getting well from an illness, etc. The opposite of that is the blame game that immediately ensues. Putting the blame on the devil for all that is bad in our lives is not accepting our responsibility in the matter. It sounds very spiritually aware to say, “please pray for me the devil is at work again” or something like that. It is a good thing to ask for prayer when we are going through trials, but we must stop and think if we caused the negative situation in the first place. People are even quick to quote 1 Peter 5:8 that says that very thing about blaming the devil. Is it really the devil’s fault if we committed the act that is bringing negative consequences? Not entirely. He may have worked hard at tempting you, but you made the decision to carry it out.
The devil has the power to suggest, tempt and entice, but the final action is our responsibility because we have been given total control of our free will. Neither God or the devil control our decisions, good or bad.
James 1:13-14 says, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.”
Identifying fault is important, but it is equally as important to look at the why. It is going to be very heartbreaking when we go before the Father on our final day on this earth and he reviews our life where we will clearly see what motivated our actions and we will see the devil is not fully to be blamed. The final responsibility of our actions rests on us.
Life is very difficult at times where marriages fail, loved ones die, we have fallouts with friends and family through very hurtful circumstances, we lose our job, depression sets in and we may feel lost and confused for a while, etc. But we should remind ourselves that God is God for all seasons in life and if we run to him or consult him on all matters, he always has an answer or a promise for us to hold on to. He also has principles and action plans for us to implement for a better result or even to undo some of the damage, and certainly always with good opportunities for learning and creating better character in us through this testing.
We must always realize that whether all the good things in our life came from God or if the bad things are from the devil, we still committed the act. We made the decisions and followed through on them. We have no one to blame but ourselves. We are the responsible party. We don’t have to wait to get to heaven to find out. We can know here and now and make amends with God’s help and Divine wisdom.
Matthew 21:44 says, “He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”
Let’s hold ourselves accountable now for our wrong actions and fall on the Rock, Christ Jesus and not wait until the full weight of God’s judgment falls on us that will surely crush us. Let’s start out by admitting the truth before God and ourselves, repent, ask for forgiveness, and turn from our wicked ways.
We can never fault God. It’s all our fault! Good, bad, whatever, we are accountable. While this is difficult to face that it’s all our fault; let’s face it now rather than later when we will be unable to anything to fix it.
Bottom line: we are accountable for all our bad decisions. We can’t blame the devil for them. We made the decisions. But there is hope!
1 John 2:1 says, “if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”