The devil catches blame for a lot of stuff. I mean, A LOT of stuff. Blame is a very interesting human phenomenon that, to the best of my knowledge, started with Eve in the Garden of Eden. Since Lucifer committed the original transgression (you know, pride, the thing that got him kicked out of Heaven) there's some merit to why he is assigned so much blame. Anyhoo, we've followed Eve's example of finger-pointing for several thousand human generations.
Shifting the blame off my own shoulders has seemed at times like an involuntary reflex to trouble; I suppose that's because shifting the blame is sometimes easier than admitting the truth... oddly enough that seems to also stem from pride (back to that original transgression). Our own pride of wanting to be seen in a good light, but yet desiring (at times) to have that which is not ours is at the core of most transgression committed by humanity.
As I was contemplating all of this I couldn't help but identify a bit with Eve. Would there have even been an issue if deep inside there wasn't something that swelled up & yearned for the delicious thing that was off limits? Did the feelings that rose up inside of her stem from a seed of pride and how did that get in there? Even with the questions of what, how, etc., what we do know from the history recorded in Genesis is that this led her to rebellion & disobedience.
The cycle seen there is long standing; and each one of us still deal with similar feelings and choices every day. Sure, we're not walking around all new & naked in a beautiful garden but we do have that hankering for things that will separate us from our Creator.
So how do we deal?
What's the cure?
Thanks be to God; Christ is the cure and surrender is how we deal with the "inner me" that we all struggle with! I have found that surrendering to Christ & following his example of complete obedience to Elohim, the Creator & Judge of all, is the only way to beat pride. Surrender may even be the ultimate death for pride, just remember it's not one & done.
Shifting the blame off my own shoulders has seemed at times like an involuntary reflex to trouble; I suppose that's because shifting the blame is sometimes easier than admitting the truth... oddly enough that seems to also stem from pride (back to that original transgression). Our own pride of wanting to be seen in a good light, but yet desiring (at times) to have that which is not ours is at the core of most transgression committed by humanity.
As I was contemplating all of this I couldn't help but identify a bit with Eve. Would there have even been an issue if deep inside there wasn't something that swelled up & yearned for the delicious thing that was off limits? Did the feelings that rose up inside of her stem from a seed of pride and how did that get in there? Even with the questions of what, how, etc., what we do know from the history recorded in Genesis is that this led her to rebellion & disobedience.
The cycle seen there is long standing; and each one of us still deal with similar feelings and choices every day. Sure, we're not walking around all new & naked in a beautiful garden but we do have that hankering for things that will separate us from our Creator.
So how do we deal?
What's the cure?
Thanks be to God; Christ is the cure and surrender is how we deal with the "inner me" that we all struggle with! I have found that surrendering to Christ & following his example of complete obedience to Elohim, the Creator & Judge of all, is the only way to beat pride. Surrender may even be the ultimate death for pride, just remember it's not one & done.
Surrender happens over & over in the life that is truly lived for Christ.
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