God Blaming

I can remember back in my college days at Samford University listening to all the different religion majors talking about their opportunities for ministry. It never ceased to amaze me how they could hear from God concerning their decisions to change from the youth minister of one church to become the youth minister of another.

They would “feel the call” to become the youth minister of one church; it would be the “perfect place,” or so it would seem! After six months the honeymoon period would be over and suddenly they weren’t the new minister everyone loved, they were the youth minister everyone had now gotten used to. Basically that means they became a target of blame for some of the churches problems instead of being the answer to them.

And suddenly they would “feel the call” to minister somewhere else!

Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with ministers finding better opportunities, more money, churches that share their vision better, or an admission that the fit between minister and church wasn’t what everyone thought it would be. What gets me is who they blame it on, God!

And ministers are not the only ones to do this. The rest of us Christians do plenty of God blaming ourselves!

The reason this gets to me so much is because a lot of times we use religious jargon to rationalize our emotional desire to do something. It’s as if every good idea we have must come from God! Therefore, if I feel like becoming a Sunday school teacher, deacon, minister, etc., then it must be God telling me to do it!

Call me crazy, but from what I have read in scripture it appears to me that when God did speak to people and direct them to do something, it was seldom something that they already felt like doing. In fact, a lot of times it was the opposite.

Moses didn’t want to be the deliverer of Israel. Jonah didn’t want to evangelize Ninevah. If they used the God blaming patterns we see used so often today to make their decisions Moses would have remained a shepherd, and Jonah would have had a thriving business in Tarsus.

So, why do we do this? I personally believe that it is a religious way out of being responsible for the decisions we make. Think about this, if I do something because God told me to and it fails, then whose fault is it? It’s Gods! We no longer have to admit that we make bad decisions, unless of course they involve sin; all of those kinds of choices still belong to us.

What we fail to realize is that we have great freedom in Christ, and it is ok to fail! Christianity isn’t about avoiding failure; it is more about how we handle it. When you read the parable of the talents you don’t see the two successful men say, “Well, you told me to open a fish market, so I did and look what happened!” The Master gave them the money to invest the best they could, and they did. It was the God blamer that lost favor with his Master. He rationalized his inaction and blamed it on his fear of what his Master would do if he tried and failed.

There are times when God speaks to our hearts, but more often than not daily decisions must be made based on wisdom, the ability to apply truth to our daily lives, not direct intervention from God himself.

So, get out there and risk more. Get in God’s word and learn how to apply it to the situations around you. It’s ok if you aren’t a huge success, and it’s ok if you are. God loves you either way!

Johnny Walker is a Christian Counselor and the founder of Family Works Counseling. You can reach him at (770) 456-5547