Blame is Not a Solution

People need to be held accountable for their actions, but we must never lose track of our goal as Christians. We identify problems so that we can help people grow through them and prosper. Too often the goal of blame is to "put people in their place," which most often means putting them somewhere beneath us. Blame is most often about power.

Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10) he came as a doctor for the sick (Luke 5:31). This means that Jesus did not come to humiliate people or crush them under his heel. He came to love, act, and serve in such a way that people could prosper.

Not everyone (an understatement) welcomed Jesus' help or his definition of prosperity (we still try to wedge our definition of prosperity into his words), but Jesus' goal was to act and communicate in such a way that he wouldn't create additional barriers to repentance. Jesus did not humiliate people , but those who understood who he was and what he was trying to do, gladly humbled themselves before his wisdom and authority.

In a passionate moment, one of my friends in college declared that he would love to see an especially vile singer burned on a stack of his records. He was wise enough to recognize that his attitude was not Christ-like. He humbled himself before Jesus and began to pray for him. If he hadn't lived a thousand miles away, the next step would have been to find ways to serve and speak to this singer.

So now the tough question. Do you want to see Obama fail? Or during the Bush presidency did you want to see him fail? I'm not asking if you disagreed, but did you want them to go down in flames, to be publicly humiliated, broken? Did you make jokes about them? Call them names? If you did, then most likely those same attitudes were directed toward other people you consider problems in your life. People notice.

This is where the rubber meets the road. Jesus gave up his life that we might live, and he has called us to do the same.

"But this is different," we might complain. "These people deserve our contempt."

James states, "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water." (James 3:9-12)

Can the same mouth that belittles and slanders others, whether President or next door neighbor, truly worship God? Would Jesus treat others this way? Are these actions led by the Spirit of God or the spirit of man?

Blame and bitterness kill. Blame is not the same as a solution. Jesus' solutions bring life rather than just leave victims. This is one of the reasons so many youth are leaving the church. They can tell the difference between the truth used as a club and the truth spoken in love.