We sabotage ourselves

Our faith life is a journey, not a field trip. It is a lifelong race that we all run. Just as with any journey or race, there are bumps and holes we encounter. Our tendency is to look for someone or something to blame for the obstacles. We blame the devil, other humans, circumstances, or God. I loved to watch Scooby Doo when I was a child. When Shaggy pulled off the mask of the "ghost", it was always someone they knew. When we pull off the hood of the source of our sin, we will find a reflection in a mirror. We sabotage our own faith life.

The life of King David is a great story to remember as we contemplate our struggles in faith. In I Samuel 13:14, David is called a “man after God’s own heart.” How amazing would it be if God could look upon our life and say we are a “man (woman) after God’s own heart?” This did not make David perfect. He was far from being called perfect. He faced his own boulders and struggled with sin.

The “man after God’s own heart” found himself attracted to a married woman. His feelings and passions caused him to commit adultery with Bathsheba. The sin caused him more problems. (Sin typically leads to more sin) Bathsheba came pregnant and David tried to cover it up by having Bathsheba’s husband killed in battle. The sin led to David also facing consequences and the wrath of the Lord. David, on the other hand, still shows us how to live a life pleasing to the Lord. He repented. Sin is not what causes the greatest harm to our walk with the Lord. It is the refusal to repent that will for eternity sever it. We see David’s confession and repentance in 2 Samuel 12. We would do well to take note of David’s relationship the God, fall into sin, and his response. David sinned because of his own choice. There was no one or nothing to blame.

It may be easy to blame the devil. We like to claim “the devil made me do it” because we are tempted by the affections and lures of the world. The blame only rests with us. Jesus showed us that the only thing to blame for our sin and sabotage of our faith is ourselves. The devil can tempt us, but he cannot make us do anything. We choose to sin.

In Matthew 4:1-11 we see the familiar story of Jesus being led into the wilderness and tempted by Satan. The devil throws powerful temptations of the world at Jesus. If Satan could have made Jesus sin then he certainly would have done it. He could not force Jesus to sin and, likewise, he cannot force us to sin. The most he could do was dangle the carrot in front of the face of the Lord and hope he bit it. He did not.  He can only hold the carrot in front of our face and try to make us partake as well. He cannot take our hand and force us to sin. Jesus sets the example for us that we should know Sacred Scripture because it is Scripture that we can combat our temptations by the devil. When we are tempted then we should walk the way of Christ and remind ourselves (and Satan) of the Word of the Lord.

It is not “the devil made me do it”. It is “I chose to do it.” We sabotage our own faith life.