# 35 The Blame Game

The Book of Genesis Day 35 Ge 3:12 Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate." 13 And the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." And the blame game begins! I remember when my children were very young. My oldest decided it would be neat to write all over one of our apartment walls. My wife and I obviously knew that he was the culprit because our one year old was not into writing letters of the alphabet or even climbing onto chairs in order to get high enough to do the writing. But, rather than accusing him, we just asked the question, “Who’s been writing on the wall?” You already know his answer don’t you? It was, “that sister you gave me!” Where did he learn to do that? Where did he learn to blame others for his sin at such an early age? Same place you and I learned it…..from Adam and Eve. It’s called original sin and it’s in our genes! Just listen to these people! God asks Adam, “Did you eat from the tree?” Adam replies, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” Then God turned to Eve, “What have you done?” and she says, “yes, I ate of the fruit, but it was the serpents fault, he deceived me!” The “blame game”, as you can see has been around for quite some time. It’s like an oral fig leaf! We will do almost anything to avoid admitting we are wrong. It seems we are always really good at blaming our parents and the society that they created for our sins. “No wonder I drink, no wonder I am a striker, it was those parents you gave me!” While it’s true that society and parents have an influence on our behavior, let’s stop playing the blame game! Did you sin or not? If you did, stop blaming others. Instead, confess, agree that you have sinned. Then claim the promise of God that He will forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. (1 Jn 1:9) No sin has ever been removed by shifting the blame. Reflect: Have you ever sought to shift the blame away from one of your mistakes at home? School? Work place? Have you ever spoken poorly of others in order to make yourself look good? What kind of behaviors seem to get passed down from our parents. Do you have a choice in how you behave? Pray: Father, I am so quick to point fingers at others. Help me to own up to my own shortcomings, and seek Your forgiveness when I fail.