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Oct 03, 2024 18:00pm

What Now?: Blame

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The following comes from the devotional book “What Now?” by Ashley Akers. To learn more, go to www.whatnowdevo.com.

Blame

I don’t know about you, but I used to be the queen of blaming others for my actions. “If they hadn’t done this, I wouldn’t have done that.” Nothing ever seemed to be all my fault and I would take the heat off myself and place it on somebody else. Sound familiar? I tried to justify my actions, but I was only fooling myself.

Blaming another person has always been part of mankind’s sinful nature beginning with Adam and Eve after they initially sinned in the garden. Let’s look at this story in Genesis 3:9-13.

But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Did you catch the blaming by Adam and Eve? They knew they had done wrong but placed the blame on others for their actions. Notice something in these scriptures; God went directly to Adam and addressed him first. He didn’t say anything about Eve; God wanted Adam to own up to his mistake. God didn’t say “what did Eve do” or “both of you;” He said, “you.” Adam responded by blaming the woman God gave him! Wow, that was a double whammy by blaming both God and Eve. Then, God went directly to Eve and asked, “What have you done?” And how did Eve respond? She blamed the serpent. They tried to fool God, but God wanted them to take responsibility for their actions, which they didn’t do.

The point I want to make from this story is this: Take responsibility for your own actions and don’t blame others for your response. I’m not saying this is easy. It is so not. Not blaming others requires humility and self-control, two things which are not part of our human-nature. They only come from God. Proverbs 28:13 says,

Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

It is hard to admit when we are wrong, but confession needs to happen to restore relationships and integrity. When we can own up to our mistakes and stop trying to justify them we experience freedom. We discover freedom in knowing that we can’t control people and how they act, but also a freedom in knowing that we can practice self-control in our circumstances.

Reflection Questions

1. Have you ever practiced self-control and owned up to your part of a disagreement? How did that make you feel?

2. How has placing the blame for your actions not helped your situation?

3. How often do you blame others instead of taking your time to think about your part in the situation?