All a man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the LORD (Proverbs 16:2).

Isn't it odd that we can have a world with so much brokenness and so few people willing to admit any kind of culpability?  Whenever there's a war, or a church split, or a business failure, or a brother-sister disagreement, it always seems to be "their fault" and never "our fault."  Are we trying to trick others into sympathizing with us?  Are we consciously blame-shifting?  Or could it be that we really believe that we're all innocent?

It's more than a possibility; it's a fact of nature:  All a man's ways seem innocent to him.

We're all just doing the best we can to make it through life, protecting our own self-interests while disrupting the lives of others as little as possible.  It's not easy -- and we can probably all acknowledge that it goes badly at times.  But even when we make mistakes, they're "innocent mistakes," right?  No one wants to be the Bad Guy.  I genuinely believe that most people are trying to do the best they can with the hand they've been dealt.

Even so, this doesn't mean that we're genuinely innocent.  Sometimes, our motives are hidden on the subconscious level -- invisible even to us, ourselves.  Still, others can see them and react to them.  And certainly, God can see them and judge the true level of their guilt or innocence.  The truth is that we all have ulterior motives, which regularly come into conflict with each other.  We can only become aware of our sin through an understanding of God's holiness, and we can only achieve innocence and vindication in the court of God's justice through faith in Jesus Christ.  Romans 3:22-26 says, "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished -- he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus."

Thus, our own individual sense of innocence doesn't mean a whole lot.  We all have that.  But fortunately, we have a Judge who offers us a favorable ruling, if we submit to His (highly favorable) terms.  Why would anyone not want to do that?  What would motivate someone to ignore God's grace?  Only God knows...