Did you ever have one of those days that started off pretty ordinary, but left you up at 2 AM wondering what in the world just happened?  In January I had such a day.  It was a typical day - a Thursday to be exact.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  But by the end of that day I would be sitting in a doctor's counsultation room outside of an intensive care unit with my family being told that my Mother would not survive the weekend.  The events of that day spun out of control.  Praise God that we serve a miracle working God - my Mom is alive and well and will be coming home from the hospital in 2 weeks!  When I finally did go to sleep the day after she was admitted, I found myself wondering what had just happened.

Adam and Eve had just come off the joy of the 7th day of Creation.  Overwhelmed by the beauty of God's creation.  Everything is new and exciting.  They enjoy a perfect relationship with their Creator and with each other.  They come across the one tree that God told them not to eat of.  They hadn't had time to even try most of the other food available to them.  They go quickly to the tree they should not have gone to.  A serpent comes along and nudges them to go ahead and eat.  The serpent causes them to doubt what God had clearly told Adam.  They give in to temptation and sin against God.  They single-handedly usher into the world sickness, disease, destruction, pain, suffering, and physical and spiritual death.  The events of that day had spun out of control in a hurry.  They find themselves hiding from God behind some bushes, perhaps wondering to themselves what had just happened.

What do they do next?

They engage in the blame game.  As far as Adam is concerned, it is all Eve's fault.  Had it not been for her, Adam seems convinced he would have stayed faithful to God.  As far as Eve is concerned, it was all the serpent's fault.  had it not been for the serpent, Eve seems convinced she would have stayed faithful to God.  Neither accepted personal responsibility.

Not much has changed since then.  We don't take personal responsibility for our sins.  "I would be a stronger Christian if only my pastor called me more often."  "I would have a better prayer life if only my job wasn't so stressful."  "I wouldn't have to visit those web sites if only my wife met my needs."  "I would read my Bible more if only my kids didn't tire me out so much."  "I would share the Gospel with my neighbors if only my husband helped out around the house so I could have some ree time."  "I wouldn't have taken that drink if only my accountability partner had called me this week."  The excuses go on and on.  The bottom line - we convince ourselves that it is someone else's fault that we are not the Christians we could be.

A.W. Tozer once said, "You are close to God right now as you have chosen to be."  Not to say that all those other issues are not a factor in our daily lives.  However, no person and no situation can make you do anything that you don't want to do.  It is easier to shift the responsibility elsewhere.  Victims are to be pitied, not held accountable - after all, it wasn't their fault!      

There is only one way to stop falling down the slippery slope - take responsibility for your sinful choices.  When the Holy Spirit convicts us, we will never run back to God in repentance if we think someone else is the one needing to repent for what they made us do.  The slippery slope will end when we admit that we sinned because we chose to sin and allow the conviction from God's Spirit to bring us back into fellowship with God.