The Blame Game Written by Neal Bowes

Tuesday

Genesis 3:11-13
¹¹ And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"

¹² The man said, "The woman you put here with me-she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."

¹³ 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 and Eve were caught with their hands in the cookie jar--or on the fruit tree, as the case may be. They had been given pretty clear instructions. Of the hundreds of trees in the garden, they could eat the fruit from all of them but one. And, you know how the story goes. The talking snake convinced them that God was holding out on them and that they would be better off ignoring God, making their own decision, and eating the fruit. So much for listening to talking snakes!

Well, you can't keep the truth from God. God knew they had eaten the fruit and called them out on it. But neither of them wanted to admit being wrong.

Adam basically said, "You put this woman here, and she ate the fruit first and then made me eat it. It's not my fault, God. It's her fault. And it's your fault, too, for putting her here."

Make a little note here: Blaming God for our sins...not a good idea.

Meanwhile, Eve says, "Don't look at me. Talk to the snake."

First they did something wrong and then they had to blame somebody else for it. We get ourselves into the same situations sometimes, don't we? We hate to admit we're wrong and we make excuses and search high and low for someone or something else to blame.

It takes a person of strong character to avoid the "blame game" and stand up and admit to being wrong. But being a person of strong character is exactly what Jesus has called you to be. Everybody makes mistakes. It's a fact of life. But, even in the face of messing up you can bring honor to God in how you handle it.


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