Commentary, Beliefs Have Consequences # 28
© 2000 Dorothy A. Miller
“The Alarm Clock Did It!” See if you can relate to this......
You push the speed limit, drive through yellow lights and your palms sweat on the steering
wheel as you maneuver past incredibly slow drivers. You sail into the parking lot, grab your things, and then rush up to the entrance and through the doors. You glance at your watch just before trying to
collect yourself and make a calm entry. “Sorry I’m late,” you say, “My alarm clock didn’t go off.”
Heads nod understandingly and you settle into your place, waiting for your heart
rate to slow down—but satisfied that you have covered yourself.
Sound familiar? Interestingly, the only part left out of your explanation for being late is that you actually
forgot to set your alarm in the first place!
It’s a way of life. Cover yourself at all costs....Tell only the part that makes you look good. Never admit to
mistakes....If you don’t take care of yourself, who will?
Now if this is beginning to have a familiar ring...a sort of personal application, don’t be surprised. It is
our natural response to not want to take blame, to not want to take responsibility for our actions.
Try this scenario. Recently my friend and I drove to a convention
together. I asked her if she had everything out of the car so I could lock it. She said “yes,” so I pressed the lock button and closed my door.
A moment later she asked, “Would you unlock the door?”
“I thought you had everything,” I responded.
“The door didn’t shut right,” she replied.
Well it seems she had shut the safety belt in the door. I teased her by saying, “Oh those doors, you now
how unruly they can be!”
Both the clock and the car-door incidents seem minor, but notice, without even thinking about it, instead of wording things accurately, people
laid blame on an inanimate object. “The alarm clock did it”...”The door did it.” So what is the big deal? Let’s start with the obvious. Errors, sins, mistakes... all tend to be repeated over and over
if not dealt with honestly.
Even worse, when we don’t honestly face our mistakes, they become sins if we lie or tell half truths to cover ourselves. Remember the other half
of a half truth is a lie!
At the root of all our alibis is pride. We don’t want to admit that we are less than perfect. How silly! Do we seriously think that anyone
else believes we are perfect?
Let me bring this into perspective spiritually. When we lie or cover our mistakes, we are only deluding ourselves, which pleases Satan and
disappoints God. Psalms 51:6 tells us what God wants. “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts.”
Not admitting mistakes is our nature...our sin nature. We
come by the alibiing and blaming inanimate objects and other people for our mistakes quite naturally. Each of us quite easily chooses the same escape technique used by Adam and Eve. The Woman YOU gave me
handed me the fruit (Oh really Adam. Did she force it down your throat as well?) And Eve...The serpent tricked me... (Yes. We know Eve. The Devil made you do it!)
But we do have
the option to speak truth. Psalm 119:30 says, “I have chosen the way of truth,”
The way of Satan...the way of the world... is to cover ourselves, but God says to “Grow up and..speak
truth!” Ephesians 4:14-15 says, “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to
deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ”
Do you want to show fruit in your life as a Christian?...
Ephesians 5:9 says, “For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.”
We must face this fact. In situations large and small we all do sin
and we all do make mistakes. God knows this, and graciously tells how the right way to handle our sin. In Proverbs 28:13 He warns, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and
forsaketh them shall have mercy. Remember I John 1:8-9 says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us
our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”...
Beliefs Have Consequences!
