It's Not My Fault!

But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. (Acts 7:57)

Once a couple started arguing in our presence and it soon became obvious that they were talking at but not hearing one another. When we encouraged them to repeat back, in their own words, what the other person was saying, they discovered that they had been “hearing” something very different from what was actually being said. Our natural tendency is to return hurt for hurt – with interest. When, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we begin to follow Christ’s words and return good for evil and blessing for cursing, we will see a revolution in our relationships. These Holy Spirit empowered relationships are the mortar of the house that God wants to build.

When do I “cover my ears” but when I’ve already made up my mind and don’t want to consider other viewpoints or even the facts. This type of attitude can come from the influence of fear, prejudice, pride, pleasure-seeking or poisonous wounds. One of the most difficult commands of Christ is to not only sincerely forgive those who hurt us but to actually love them. It is difficult for anyone to genuinely listen to someone who has wounded him in the past unless the grace of Christ has been embraced to truly forgive and to even give something of value into the life of that “enemy”.

As we come into a worship service and as we prepare to receive Communion, we are warned to examine ourselves and our relationships. If we realize that anyone has anything against us, that relationship problem has priority over worship. We are to leave our offering at the altar and go to the one who has a problem with us. It is vital to go in an attitude of repentance and praying that they will be able to “hear” us. Even if the problem is only 5% our fault, we should take the initiative to resolve that 5%. A fool is not interested in facts but only in airing his opinion. A fool sees every relationship problem as being someone else’s fault. May God forgive my foolishness and give me grace to hear the life-giving truth rather than saying, "It's not my fault!"

Project:
Let's take our hands off our ears and ask God to show us the truth.
Let's beg God to show us who has anything against us and let's do all we can to clear up at least our end of the problem. (Perhaps we need to ask forgiveness for the problems we caused, our lazy attitude, our rebellious attitude or some other attitude problem.)

'HEAVEN IS MY THRONE, AND EARTH IS THE FOOTSTOOL OF MY FEET; WHAT KIND OF HOUSE WILL YOU BUILD FOR ME?' says the Lord, 'OR WHAT PLACE IS THERE FOR MY REPOSE?
(Acts 7:47+)