(ThyBlackMan.com) So often in our community we give glory and praise to God and place blame on the devil for our actions but, when do we get held accountable? More often than not, I can remember hearing our church mothers thanking God for anything good in our lives, from something as simple as paying bills on time to a family member recovering from an illness. The opposite of that is the blame game. Placing blame on the devil for all that is bad in their lives. “Oh, the devil is at work again!” or something to that effect. Is it really the Devil’s fault if we committed the act?
I look at situations in our lives where bad things have happened and while fault is important, it is equally as important to look at the why. I’ve been through some pretty rough situations in my short life. I’ve been married and divorced, almost died, buried a sibling, all of those things and the one thing I’ve realized is that whether all the good things in my life came from God or if the bad things are from the devil I still committed the act. I made the decisions, I followed through, I am the responsible party. We like to say, “what will God ask that you did when you get to heaven?” But, how can we say we did anything if we place all the credit and blame on others? Won’t we get held accountable for that time we drank a little too much and said something we shouldn’t have? For lying when we should have just told the truth?
Here’s my thought, IT’S ALL OUR FAULT. Good, bad, whatever, we are accountable. While this may be a little difficult to swallow it’s all your fault. Here me out. I’ll use myself as the example. Many say it’s a blessing to find a wife, but what if you choose the wrong one? Is it a curse? Many say having children are a blessing, but what if you can’t afford the children, what if they make your life infinitely more difficult because of lack of resources? Is it then a blessing to get a divorce because the relationship is so bad that you almost die because of stress? Is it a blessing to work so much to be able to afford to care for your children but you never see them? What’s a blessing then and what’s a curse? What is inherently good and what is inherently bad?
At this point in my life I must hold myself accountable above all else. I can give God credit for all the good but I’m the one making the good decisions. If He is our Father, then shouldn’t he be proud that we’re making good decisions? Wouldn’t he give us credit and praise for doing the right things. The reverse is also true, we are accountable for all our bad decisions. We can’t blame the Devil for our bad decision if we made them.
If we want to reap the rewards and blessings, we need to be accountable for our downfalls. One thing I’ve learned to be true is that the minute we allow someone else to be responsible for our success and failure we lose the ability to be responsible for any of it. The person that can own their failures can never have their success taken from them.
Staff Writer; Martin Denesse
This brother is New Orleans based, and one can drop an email at; MartinD@ThyBlackMan.com.