Created for Work ~ Chapter 15 "How Could It Be My Fault?"

Self-defense is instinctive in most of us. When confronted in any kind of threatening manner, our first reaction is to get into a fighting stance; to let fly a right swing and a left jab. This instinct can be a good thing. At the same time, it can be a bad thing...

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Self-defense can be good thing if your accosted by a thug in a dark alley at night. In such a situation, it is usually best to let loose with whatever weapons are handy, whether that's your .38 Special, rocks, your pocket-knife, or your fists. Now, I seriously doubt any of you have ever  had to get rough with a thug in a dark alley at night. However, there is another kind of self-defense - the bad kind - which we all use quite often in everyday situations - at home, at work, at school, or at play. And it's this kind of self-defense that Bob Schultz addresses in Chapter 15 of Created for Work.

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When somebody blames us for a problem, what is too often our first reaction? We get defensive. We "let loose" with a string of hot words, indignantly pointing out that "it's not my fault". This is the bad kind of 'self-defense' I was talking about, and it's rooted in an "I just can't bear to be wrong" attitude - in other words, it's rooted in three things:

1. Pride. We feel that if someone proves us wrong, it will damage our ego. 
2. Arrogance. We think we "know it all" and therefore we can't possibly be wrong.
3. Stubbornness. We refuse to acknowledge our fault, even in the face of evidence.

Everybody struggles with these things to some extent or another. Pride, arrogance, and stubbornness are sin, and sin is inherent to man's nature. However, Christians are called to something different than sin and wickedness; they are called to overcome their inherent nature through Christ, and to "put off the old man with his deeds, and... put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him." (Col. 3:10) 

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So, instead of automatically jumping the gun when trouble comes our way and shouting "It's not my fault!", we should stop, pray, and really consider what we're faced with. God will give wisdom to those who humbly ask Him. When a problem is considered in a prayerful way, God often reveals to us facets of the situation of which we were not aware. Sometimes, you might just find that you were in fact the one to blame. Schultz says, "We have the tendency to see the faults of others before considering our own shortcomings. Convinced of our right standing, we are blind to the fact that we might be part or even the whole problem."  Many people (and I've been among them at times), when faced with this, simply bluster and storm about it, choosing to be stubborn and hard-headed, which only increases the strife. This is not the way to handle things. The way to handle things is with humility. This all-important weapon of the Christian faith is one of the greatest ways we can combat pride. It will open many doors which pride closes. It is requisite to fighting the good fight of faith.

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 Therefore, "the next time you have a disagreement with somebody, or perhaps have some other trouble on your hands, pause and ask yourself, 'Am I part of the problem?'... It's the godly man who looks for his own foot before he criticizes somebody else."

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"Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults."

- Psalm 19:12

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Persevero,

Scribe