It is His Fault!

Have you found it interesting to see so much ‘Be Kind’ signage and promotions throughout our community? What do you think has triggered such a thing? Isn’t Being Kind what parents are expected to teach their children to practice as they grow up? Or could it be that it has inadvertently failed to be practiced or taught at home these days? Dysfunction at home has always been around in some form, but given the news these days, it has become more blatant and severe as life progresses.

The ‘Be Kind’ must stem from an ancient evil practice that has gone on steroids. That ancient evil practice is blaming, pointing a finger at someone else, and declaring him/her to be responsible. It is a sure sign of emotional immaturity, especially insecurity. As early as the third chapter in the first book of the Bible, immediately after Adam and Eve sinned (acted on their disbelief), Adam blamed God, and Eve blamed the serpent. Their blame did not impress God, nor did it result in anything healthy and good. Blaming is very rampant throughout Bible history.  

Blame is our fallen nature’s defense mechanism. Children are born with it. They commonly blame others for their misbehavior. It is reinforced by their parents and later schoolteachers and media. They watch and hear their parents blame caregivers, teachers, coaches, neighbors and their kids, the economy, the politicians, and the list goes on and on. As they grow, they hear their schoolteacher place blame when they teach the critical race theory or how some sector of society is responsible for a common evil. They see the blame skill refined on YouTube, TV shows, and news networks who blatantly blame the right or left wings, a sector of society, or our history. It is exceedingly rare for anyone to own bad choices or accept acts of imperfect humanity, then take initiative-taking steps to help solve the problem. Kindness and unity are vaporizing before our eyes. Regretfully, instead of churches being a beacon of love, kindness, and unity, their in-house fighting has become the butt of jokes. It is only a matter of time before this growing discord evolves into anarchy, which will bring down our wonderful nation. Blame has never solved a problem and never will. Like cancer, blame and hatred are spreading into every fabric of society.

It might be said the solution would be to train for personal, emotional maturity. If a person would just grow up, kindness and community would again prevail. It also might be said the solution would be to train for personal spiritual maturity. If a person is spiritually mature, they would naturally be emotionally mature. Could the latter be the more complete answer? If you consider Jesus’ poise when going through the passion week and Paul’s words written from prison for us to rejoice in the Lord, both were superb models of spiritual and emotional maturity. Discipling others to be like Jesus must begin with shaping a heart like His, which by its nature includes His emotional maturity.

I am sobered by the instability of my emotional maturity. I am better than I was, yet still far from living as Jesus or Paul lived. I can be known to blame others, even those I love, instead of humbly owning my failure and working out a healthy solution. This is especially true when I’m tired or under pressure. I suspect my emotional maturity may very well be a gauge that reminds me I have much farther to go on my journey to spiritual maturity. This revelation to me has intensified my quest to find fresh ways for my character to be reshaped by more intense exposure to Christ’s presence. As this happens, I believe Jesus’ love for His Father and others will naturally be more evident in my thoughts and life. My dream is to have more of the poise Jesus expressed in the passion week and have Paul’s ability to write while in the deplorable prison conditions of his day, rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, rejoice (Philippians 4:4, ESV). How about you?

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