The Blame Game

Ever find yourself in a situation where you goofed up and you want to blame someone else?
Or your kids (or spouse) are fighting and it’s always someone else’s fault?
Do you know anybody who just can’t accept responsibility when they mess up, no matter how obvious it is?
It started in the Garden.

Blame shifting is a lie we tell ourselves to avoid taking responsibility for our actions.

Adam and Eve were the original blame-shifters.

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:8-14)

He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

And the Lord God said, “Who told you that you were naked?  Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

Now listen to how Adam, and then Eve, each passes the buck:

The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Adam blames it on Eve, and Eve blames it on the serpent.

When do we play the blame game?  We play the blame game when we blow it and we don’t want to take responsibility.  We mess up, but we don’t want to own it:
"I would have gotten a better grade, but there’s no place I can study."
"If my parents weren’t so strict, I’d have more friends."
"If my wife were not such a nag, I’d be home more."
"If my husband worked less, I would a better partner to him."

Some of us shift blame to ourselves even when we shouldn’t:  "If I were a better mother, my child would not have had these problems."

Sometimes we blame God:  "If God were truly a loving God, this heartache would not be happening in my life right now."  

Jesus came to take the blame for us.  Christ took the blame – when he didn’t have to – so we can stand before God as confident as Christ.

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:10)

Christ took responsibility for your sins.
Now where do you need to take responsibility?