We live in a world that hates accountability. Well, let me rephrase that. We live in a world that hates SELF-accountability. Think on it, we enjoy fixing the blame on politicians, teachers, doctors, lawyers, judges, police officers, preachers, our neighborhood was too poor, our neighborhood was too rich, everything and anything for why things aren’t right. 
Heck, I even hear this way more often than I like “If God is so good, than why does x, y, and z happen?” We blame God for our problems, (like in Bruce Almighty) and say “He can fix this if He wanted to,” and then go on continuing in our own poor choices. There’s a problem with the “Blame God” dynamic. There’s a problem with blaming everyone else. Don’t get me wrong, there are things in this life that are out of our control. There are things we can’t control: natural disasters (such as fires, floods, and storms), illness, death, and other people. The last is, I think the most devastating. Because of freewill, people have the ability to hurt us, and they do…often. But does it do any good to blame someone who is just as sinful as you for following human nature (selfishness, greed, etc.)?
In Genesis, the bible tells us that because Adam and Eve disobeyed God, sin and death entered in to the world. By genetics, being of their offspring, we have inherited this sinful nature. And yet, we look down even more so on someone else who has the very same nature we do, while excusing our own poor behaviors. It’s easy. We shift responsibility because it makes us feel less to blame. The fact is, though, at the end of it all, when we stand before God (and if you’re reading this, I want you to know it is a fact that we will stand before God, whether or not we choose to believe in Him). When we do, He will have to judge righteously. He set a standard, and none of us live up. We will be held accountable for our own actions, and no one else can be blamed for what we have done. There is, however, a way out.
We are told in Romans 6 (And elsewhere in the Bible) that the penalty/wages of sin is death. Sin is anything we do (or do not do and are supposed to do) in violation against God. My neighbor cannot or will not be blamed for my actions. I will have to give account for each of them. And yet, at the right time, Christ died for those of us (all of us) who are ungodly (Romans 5). For those of us who are willing to accept responsibility, and see the gift that Christ did when He laid His life down for us, and in return give our lives to Him, to follow Him and live a new life (even daily) following Him, we can be made new and right before God. It is only through this gift we are justified, and only by the death and resurrection of the perfect one that we are saved.
So lay it down, stop blaming others and take responsibility. Live the life you were meant to live, and repent. He is waiting, and the gift is free, if you give up everything and follow Him.
Colossians 1, ESV
Greeting
1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2To the saints and faithful brothersa in Christ at Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
Thanksgiving and Prayer
3We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant.b He is a faithful minister of Christ on yourc behalf 8and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
9And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. 11May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, 12giving thanksd to the Father, who has qualified youe to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
The Preeminence of Christ
15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16For byf him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
21And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creationg under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
Paul’s Ministry to the Church
24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
Footnotes:
a 2 Or brothers and sisters. The plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) refers to siblings in a family. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, adelphoi may refer either to men or to both men and women who are siblings (brothers and sisters) in God’s family, the church
b 7 Greek fellow bondservant
c 7 Some manuscripts our
d 12 Or patience, with joy giving thanks
e 12 Some manuscripts us
f 16 That is, by means of; or in
g 23 Or to every creature
Christ over Coffee 