Blame: December 3, 2012

TODAYS WORD FOR MONDAY DECEMBER 3, 2012

BLAME

DEFINITION:

To hold responsible; to find fault with; censure; to place the responsibility of.

SCRIPTURE:

Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Ephesians 1:4.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

When we do something wrong we all are inclined to want to blame something or someone else. When our children were young and we caught them doing something wrong they often blamed one of their brothers or sisters. How often we heard, “it was his (or her) fault or he (or she) started it”.  It is very easy to pass blame to someone to cover a wrong behavior or a lie in order to avoid the consequences.

The “blame game” started long ago after God created Adam and Eve. God put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis chapter 2-3) and told them not to do only one thing. “Do not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil” (verse 17). But they did and by doing so they sinned against God and the BLAME GAME began. In Genesis 3:7-13, we read that they first tried to avoid having to take responsibility for their actions and attempted to hide from God. When they were discovered Adam first blamed Eve as to why he ate of the tree (verse 12) and even blamed God because God had given him Eve. Then Eve blamed the serpent (verse 13).

The result is that sin came into the world because Adam and Eve were told one thing not to do and they did it. Rather than admitting what they had done they blamed someone else. To avoid taking responsibility for their own actions, people seem to constantly look for someone to blame.

In Mark 3:2 we read about Jesus and His disciples being in the temple with the Pharisees on the Sabbath. The Pharisees felt that the popularity of Jesus was a threat to them and they wanted to find something that they could blame Jesus for. They were watching Jesus carefully with the intent of criticizing Him for doing something on the Sabbath.

A man with a shriveled hand was in the temple and as the scripture reads: “They watched Jesus closely whether He would heal a man on the Sabbath, so that they may accuse (blame) him.” Jesus was grieved by the hardness of the Pharisees hearts and looked at them with anger and said to the man that needed healing to “Stretch out your hands.” The man obeyed and was healed. The Pharisees immediately left the temple to begin to plot how they might kill Him by blaming Him for healing the man on the Sabbath, thus breaking the Jewish law.

Every parent that has raised children has had to live with the “BLAME GAME.” Some of the time a parent has to be the judge as to who is really telling the truth. The scripture gives us a guideline as to how we should handle blame as it happens with our children. It begins with training. In Proverbs 22:6 it reads: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Children must be taught to accept responsibility for their actions and when they do wrong they should confess it and ask for forgiveness. Blaming someone else is not an option.

God always knows our every action and He always knows who is the blame. We might be able to fool others, but we cannot fool God as Adam and Eve found out very quickly. The opportunity to blame others will constantly pop up in our lives. Satan loves to tempt us in this way. The only way to resist the temptation is to seek the Lord’s help by reading His Word and praying and asking Him to give us the desire and the strength to do what is right. The right thing to do when we sin against God is always admit our sin and repent of it and ask for God’s forgiveness.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Luke 2:52.

And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

PRAYER:

Help me today to do all that I can, with Your help, not to blame people for an issue that I have caused. Give me wisdom and the grace that only You can give to live a Christ honoring life in all that I do. Convict me of my sin when I do wrong and help me to do the right thing and seek your forgiveness.