Not My Fault

I started reading in John awhile ago. I think it's so God's timing that I'm at the end of the book this week before Easter. Today I read about Pilate. Several times he said "I find no fault with this man." The Jews wanted Jesus crucified, Pilate could not find a reason. Eventually he handed him over to be crucified.

This got me to thinking of how often we do this in our own lives. In one of the gospels I believe it even says that Pilate washed his hands in front of the crowd and said basically that Jesus' blood was not on his hands. Can we do this? Can we do something we feel is wrong because everybody else is pressuring us to and just "wash our hands of it." Not my fault. Everyone else was, so I had to.

Austin is so bad at accepting responsibility. Nothing is ever his fault. He's got an excuse for everything! It's so funny how different my kids are. Austin is basically a good kid, he rarely gets in trouble; but when he does, it wasn't his fault. Guaranteed. Brandt gets in trouble a lot more frequently. When he gets in trouble, it's usually a big deal. Yet afterwards, he admits he was wrong and says he's sorry. Which is better?

Do I make excuses with God?
Not my fault. It wasn't gossip, it was a prayer request.
Not my fault. It wasn't really a lie, it was just stretching the truth.
Not my fault. I just got so busy I forgot to read my bible.

On and on we go. Making excuses. What we need to realize, what I need to realize, is that all these little checks that God gives us are for our good. To make us more like Jesus. Not full of excuses, just full of Jesus.