A Cop Out

How often do we hear someone say, “The Devil made me do it?”  I know I’m guilty of saying it in the past, and to be fair, many of us say it or have said it without really thinking through the meaning of it.

When we say it, are we trying to absolve ourselves of the responsibility for some transgression that we did?

I would say, most of the time, yes, in fact we are trying to shed that responsibility – after all, we’re all innately selfish, and if we can pass the blame onto someone else, whether a friend, family member, colleague or Screwtape, we usually manage to find a way.

But this statement, “The Devil made me do it”, is also false, as I understand the nature of the enemy.  The enemy’s tactic is to tempt us…to provide us with the choice to follow his suggestion as opposed to that of God’s…and more often than not, we take his bait.  Look at Adam and Eve in Eden.  Look at Abraham when he must have heard the enemy tell him, “Sarah’s too long in the tooth to produce the offspring God has promised…why don’t you hop in the sack with Hagar instead?  I’m sure it will be wicked good time, too, old man…” In each case, the enemy tempted the humans with an alternative to God’s, they listened to him, and suffered the consequences.

We still do the same thing today…do the alternative of God’s best.  We allow ourselves to succumb to the tempting thoughts of the enemy, and when we do what he tells us, we start to backpedal from our choice to bite that apple.

Our best recourse?  Admit our wrongdoing.  Take ownership of it.  Ask God for forgiveness and restoration, knowing that He will work in us to help us make the right choice the next time.