I Confess: I am to Blame
I’ve become an expert at playing the blame game lately.
While ISIS and Boko Haram are devastating the Middle East and Africa respectively, I spend my time wondering when our government is going to step up or the United Nations is going to step in. While same-sex marriage gains in popularity and traditional values wane, I have angrily condemned the conservative politicians and the silent majority for keeping their mouths shut.
While a child dies every ten seconds of hunger and another child dies every twelve seconds from a preventable disease, I ask myself, “Where are the aid workers, the Peace Corps volunteers, and the Red Cross?!?” While over 155,000 die every day, with an estimated 116,000 of those headed to a Christ-less eternity, I look around to find out what happened to the evangelists, the missionaries, and God’s people in general.
So, one day, as I was pointing my finger of blame in all directions, God came along and did something unexpected. He grabbed my flailing finger, twisted it around, and pointed it right back into my puffed out chest.
His message to me? “Mark, you are to blame.”
He’s right, you know.
The fact is that I am to blame. The fact is that I spend more time praying about my back pain than I do about the pain inflicted on the helpless. Too many times to count, I have beseeched the Lord to improve my son’s attitude while playing sports, yet I can count on one hand how many times I have asked the Lord to improve the lives of the hurting, dying, and neglected.
I can tell you the top ten movies of the year, but I can’t tell you the top ten issues in my community. As an NCIS junkie, I can tell you all about the likes and dislikes of Leroy Jethro Gibbs, but I honestly couldn’t tell you much about my neighbors. And, oh boy, I could go on and on about all the many reasons why my beloved Phillies are brutally bad this year, but I couldn’t tell you a single thing that I have done for the brutalized this year.
I have amassed a fairly impressive 156-47 record in Trivia Crack, but my record against poverty and hunger is non-existent. I have battled for hours against expert-level opponents in app after app, but I have not battled in prayer for those trapped in sin, lost in hopelessness, or drowning in despair.
So, I must confess--ISIS, Boko Haram, world hunger, disease-riddled nations, thousands dying without Christ each day—I am to blame.
I have done little to nothing about any of it. Instead, I have wrapped myself comfortably in myself.
Perhaps it’s time that I unwrapped this small package that I have become. Perhaps it’s time that I became the gift God wants me to be for His world.
How about you? Are you with me?
