“God made me this way!”

“Really!  Do you really believe God made you a grumpy, self-centered, impatient clod?”

… the conversation paused.

Now, I would understand if someone who believes in evolution and unintelligent design said this.   I would also pity the person who was so resigned to wallowing in their emotional DNA, that they were willing to be miserable and force everyone else to endure their miserableness.

“God made me this way” is not an excuse a Christian can use, neither should it be one a Christian should accept from another believer.

Paul wrote:

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God! (1)

If you ascribe to the theory that “God made you this way” then as a Christian, you must affirm the truth and promise of God’s declaration through Paul in Second Corinthians, “In Christ you are a NEW creation!”

Which way do you want to play the game?

Blaming God for the way you live is a game.  It is a game which you will never win!  It is a game which becomes a burden to those around you. 

I am not sure what I am suppose to say to a woman who uses this excuse, but to a Christian brother, I would say, “Man up!”

As a Christian, the teaching of Paul in Titus 3:3-5, is a glorious promise, which frees us from the “Blame God Game.”

Paul writes:

We were once … foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 

But now … when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us. (2)

Note the contrast at the beginning of the two sentences:

“We once were …”  becomes  “But now …”

The “once upon a time …” becomes a new “now and forevermore …”

The old ways have died and the new have come alive within you.

It’s the beauty of the movement from winter into spring.

It’s your new life in Christ.

The old has past away and BEHOLD the new has come!  

This is from God!

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1. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), 2 Corinthians 5:17–18.

2. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Titus 3:3–5.