Everybody does it!

A teen's favorite excuse right? An accepted argument by much of this world. It comes in other forms too.

"All kids go through that stage."

"It's bound to happen sooner or later."

"Oh, come on! We've all done that."

"Nobody's perfect."

"At least I didn't kill anyone."

It's pretty safe to say that we all make excuses. What is an excuse really? I'd say it's our attempted justification for an action. But we forget that you can't justify something if it's wrong.

Your friends have been fighting for years, and decide to divorce. Instead of praying or offering help, or, heaven forbid, calling them on it... we say "It was bound to happen sooner or later".

Your teen stays out past curfew. Your well-meaning friend says, "Oh, come on... we've all done that". (In front of your teen!)

You confess to a friend that you can't seem to stop spending money on things you really can't afford. "Hey, nobody's perfect" is their only helpful input.

You accidentally ding a car in the parking lot with your cart... it's only a small scratch, but you leave. "Hey, I didn't kill anyone!"

This all reflects an attitude of worldliness. It is lack of accountability. It is permitting defeat. This world, our culture... and even the church has eroded the line between right and wrong down to a gray area a mile wide. And, even worse, once something is decided to be wrong... no one wants to take responsibility for it. It's always someone else's fault.

Why don't we care about right and wrong any more?! Political correctness? The relative truth movement? I think it's just our human-ness.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
Romans 3:23

That doesn't mean we're doomed to do no good though.

By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Matthew 7:16

God calls us to be a better example! We're supposed to be the people that the lost look to! People aren't looking for thornbushes... all they have to offer are thorns. Be a grape!

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:11

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
Ephesians 4:29

Looking the other way isn't building each other up. Ignoring problems isn't either. Being passive to sin won't help a friend. We need to hold each other accountable. We need to declare victory over sin together. But we can't do that until we are brave enough to point it out and call it what it is.

Sometimes that means we need to step out of our comfort zone and speak up, in love.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
1 John 4:7

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.
1 Peter 1:22

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.
Revelation 3:19

If done in love, we will never regret speaking up. And when it is done prayerfully, God will honor it. But if it is never done... nothing will change. We'll go on looking like the rest of the world.