The Futility of Blame – Deuteronomy 24:16

Deuteronomy 24:16: “Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.”

For those of you who have had some experience with psychology or therapy, you know that many times when seeking to find the root of a destructive behavior, a painful event or series of events in one’s childhood is the source. This source is all the more damaging when it comes from one or both parents. Parents are supposed to be a safe place – a shelter of unconditional love, constructive discipline, and security. That’s the ideal environment, so for those of you lucky enough to have experienced such a childhood, consider yourself richly blessed.

Because we are all flawed, we weave our flaws into our relationships. Those flaws are most damaging in the early years of a child. The temptation, though, for the adult suffering under the painful experiences of a childhood is to surrender to these memories and live a life as a victim. For those who do this, they are in effect playing the blame game. They choose to submit to their childhood damages and, therefore, take no accountability for their own behavior.

Today’s verse speaks to the issue of accountability in God’s eyes. Since the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), you can substitute the message in today’s verse that a child shall not be guilty of the sins of the parent nor shall a parent be guilty for the sins of his child. To be fair, the sins of a parent do indeed do damage – sometimes serious damage – to a child. However, once a child reaches an age of accountability, then he/she is on the hook for their own behavior and sins. This may sound harsh but consider a couple of important truths.

First, for a parent to inflict his/her painful flaws on a child, the parent is doing these things out of his/her own pain. They’re merely carrying forward the damages of their own childhood and passing them down to the next generation. This is in no way meant to be a justification for their behavior, but simply a plain truth. This opens the door for the possibility of looking upon them with pity rather than hatred and bitterness. From that mindset, forgiveness becomes a possibility.

The second and far more important truth is regardless if it is the parent or the child, God’s healing power is greater than any childhood damage. Jesus is the Master of taking human suffering and healing, restoring, and growing. However, He cannot do anything unless you take ownership of your own sin. While He is certainly sympathetic of your childhood hurts, which were not your fault, He wants you to turn your focus on Him and let Him bring lasting healing.

Blaming your parents for your shortfalls as a human does not solve them. You are accountable to God for your own actions. Therefore, there is futility in your blame. You can choose to live an oppressed life as a victim, or you can choose to seek the One you are accountable to, and He will faithfully and lovingly give you a life of hope as a victor. What’s your choice?

 

Isaiah 60:1

Oh, LORD, what darkness surrounds me.
How it oozes and seeps into my pores.
Then it slithers and threatens my mind
With the dread there will be much more.

My heart begins to quake and tremble -
Leaving me paralyzed with fading hope.
How could such a doom break through?
As if I’ve arrived at the end of my rope.

Suddenly a voice from heaven thunders
Tearing a hole in hopelessness’s roof.
Darkness’s lies crumble to their knees
Giving way to the Light and the truth.

“Arise, My child, for your light is here!
Why have you forgotten My presence?
Don’t you recall upon your confession?
That I instilled in you My holy essence.”

“The darkness and its grave were beaten
By My beloved Son’s death at Calvary.
When I resurrected Him with My power.
The Light of the World won the victory!”

“As for My unbelieving and lost creation -
The ones drowning in darkness and tears,
If they could only see what you believe,
My perfect love will cast out their fears.”

“So, don’t forget, My beloved possession.
You can arise and shine for I have come.
My glory will forever rise upon you
With the same power that raised My Son.”

“Shine My Spirit’s light who dwells inside
That will testify that My Word is true.
For light will always defeat the darkness
When they’ll see that it did so for you.”

Why Jesus Was Sent

God takes no pleasure in the death of any.
He wants all of His creation to repent.
To prove the truth of this passionate desire,
His only begotten Son to us was sent.

He looked at each of our worst moments
And our rejection of His holy existence.
From a heart of mercy and compassion,
He chose to take our sin death’s sentence.

Yet we still believe the deceits and the lies.
If He exists, He’s an unfair and angry judge.
When we reject the necessity of the cross.
We’re missing His greatest display of love.

What more powerful proof can we find?
For another to willingly lay down one’s life.
The only way to be reconciled to our Creator,
Was for His Son Jesus to be our sacrifice.

The fear of death was given a mortal blow.
His resurrection proving love never fails.
Imagine the guilt and shame of our past
Are forgiven and left on His cross’ nails.

Why won’t we choose to believe this truth?
Receive the free gift of His amazing grace.
If this is the only life that we have to live,
Does it feel anything like a heavenly place?

If there is more to live after our last breath,
Perhaps the cross makes a lot more sense.
To be given the promise of an eternal peace,
We’ll start to believe why Jesus was sent.

That God loves every life that He creates.
You’re no evolved ape, you’re no accident.
If you’ll take Jesus’ nail-pierced hands,
You’ll become a reason why He was sent.