Many years ago, a comedian named Flip Wilson hosted wildly popular TV variety show that featured a character he played named Geraldine Jones.
Geraldine was a churchgoing lady who lived in the fast lane of worldliness.
Her signature wardrobe in the church service was a miniskirt which in the early 1970s was unheard of in a church service.
Geraldine didn’t want to hear about spiritual accountability for her choices, though, and whenever confronted about a choice, she’d use the line Flip Wilson made famous — “The devil made me do it.”
The Geraldine character always got lots of laughs when she’d throw out that line.
But making a joke of sin is never a laughing matter.
The fact is that the devil doesn’t make us sin.
We choose to do it.
If he could make us sin, then every Christian would never worship God, never give to God, never pray to God, never give money to those in need, never forgive those who need mercy and perpetually choose flesh over faith.
Sin is a choice. Always has been and — until Jesus returns — always will be.
Our choice.
Adam tried to shift blame for his sin in the Garden of Eden over to his wife, but that was a stupid choice.
Eve didn’t hold Adam down and force the fruit into his mouth.
Why was the tree holding forbidden fruit put in the middle of the perfect garden? Have you ever thought about that?
It was there for one reason — to test Adam’s and Eve’s loyalty and trust toward God.
It was a measuring tool that would explicitly reveal their need for God’s grace if they disobeyed.
They were clearly warned in advance of what the consequences would be if they didn’t remain loyal to God.
You know what happened.
And, no, the devil didn’t make them do it.
It was their choice.
They had no excuse.
Neither did the Old Testament Israelites wandering in the wilderness whenever they ignored the commandments given them through Moses.
Satan couldn’t make them do anything. But he sure could lure them into believing lies and choosing to embrace sin.
Millions didn’t enter the Promised Land as a result.
Listen, sin is always a choice.
We opt into that which dishonors and disobeys God and devalues our spiritual testimony.
There is no excuse for our sin.
No matter what culture and social media sources and Hollywood megastars say.
God gave us the Old Testament Law and the teachings of New Testament scriptures so that we would know and follow the right path.
We have to know that there are no excuses for sin as Romans 3:19 tells us.
In fact, the Apostle Paul said the Law was given to us so that we wouldn’t rely on excuses for sin.
Throwing out excuses might impress other people and even prevent us from consequences with family or friends or employers.
But they also block us from the one remedy that can solve our sin problem with God.
That remedy is repentance.
When sin occurs in your life and mine, it’s vital that we avoid excuses and confess our failure to God.
It’s vital that we repent and pledge to avoid repeating the sin.
Geraldine might think sin is a laughing matter.
But God and His Son who died on the cross to pay the price of atonement sure don’t.
As always, I love you
Martin
