Adam & Eve Syndrome

It's always someone else's fault.  It's never my responsibility.

Where did that come from?  From our dear friends and close relatives, Adam and Eve.  It began when God asked Adam why he ate the fruit of the tree that was specifically banned.  Adam's response:  Eve made me do it.  A number of years ago a comedian had a funny line that was equally suspect: The devil made me do it.

When is it our responsibility?  Today.  The world will only change when we take personal responsibility for our individual behavior, repent of our failings and seek to obey, not because the law says to but because we are in relationship with the righteous Father.

It is so easy to justify our behavior because "everyone else is doing it."  That sounds like something I used to say to my Mom when she asked me why I did or why I needed to do something.  That's how I justified speeding when I was traveling so much.  I was just keeping up with the traffic.  In fact, if I didn't go faster "they" would pass me.  So?

Why do we obey the laws of the land?  Because we are afraid of getting caught?  With the police forces trimmed back and busy with so many other crimes I have a better chance of getting by with something.  Observe how many people run stop signs or red lights (except for the ones with cameras!).  Their odds of getting by with it are pretty good (unless someone with what they think is a green light and the right to enter the intersection collides with them).

If our behavior is based strictly on what others are doing we are in trouble.  We have to come to a point where we are behaving righteously because of our relationship with the Father--regardless of what anyone else is doing.  My inner motivation for obeying the laws can't be based on whether I am discovered or not.  There are too many things we can do that no one will ever know whether we are persons of integrity or not.  It has to be based on our relationship with a God who is personal and delights in our obedience.

Our behavior can't be based on the Old Testament idea of "an eye for an eye".  We can not excuse our behavior based on the behavior of others.  "He was just being a jerk so I just gave him back what he deserved."  At some point someone needs to be the adult in these types of situations and refuse to retaliate.

If we as followers of Christ keep following others in their behaviors we are soon going to live in a very frightful world.  There won't be enough laws to stop the dangerous behavior of everyone.  We will get to a point where it won't be safe to enter an intersection because we won't be able to depend on the other person to stop.  We won't be safe on the streets because someone else will decide that they need to take what we have.  We will experience anarchy--total lawlessness.

It is time for those of us who claim to be followers of Christ to behave righteously, accept responsibility and act lawfully because we are people of the King.  We are the salt and the light of the world and the culture is counting on us to stem the tide of evil and selfish behavior that is driving the world to lawlessness.