Take Responsibility

Exodus 32:4 "He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool."

Exodus 32:24 "So I told them, 'whoever has any jewelry , take it off.' Then they gave me the gold and I threw it into the fire and out came this calf!'"

Moses is up on the mountain and the Israelites can't stand the wait, so they ask Aaron to make a calf, and he does. He makes exactly what they ask him to make. But when Moses comes down and sees this, sees that they couldn't wait for the presence of the Lord, he confronts Aaron. Aaron's excuse is timeless: It's not my fault - it just happened!

Sin doesn't just happen. We fashion it with a tool. Our mind. Our hands. Our mouth. Our heart.

One of the key steps to spiritual growth is the simple acknowledgment that we did it. We thought about it and we made exactly what we thought about making. We did what we set out to do. It didn't just pop out of the fire.