The Blame Game

For each one shall bear his own load.  (Galatians 6:5 NKJV)

This verse brings to mind another more vivid picture painted by Scripture in the book of Revelation:

And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books (Rev 10:12 NKJV).

The implication of both verses is that at the end of the day – literally – there will be no more room for blame shifting.  What started in the Garden of Eden immediately after the fall will finally end. When questioned by God as to their obvious condition, Adam was quick to blame Eve, who just as quickly threw the hot potato to the serpent.  And from then on, mankind has joined in the “blame game” in order to maintain a façade of “righteousness” that is anything but holy.  Sin had officially entered the world and one of the more glaring results of sin was its insidious need to blame someone else for the behavior that it creates. 

You’ve probably heard the old adage “to err is human and to forgive is divine.”  In that same vein, we could also say, “to blame is human, to accept responsibility is divine.”  Have you ever wondered why it is so hard to admit that we have made a mistake when we all know that we are not perfect? Yet when our nakedness of being human is about to be exposed, we are quick to grab the first convenient cover to hide it, even if it is a little uncomfortable, just like the naked couple in the Garden covering themselves with itchy fig leaves. 

It is not difficult to understand the reason for this natural behavior when we look at what really happened to Adam and Eve.  This was a couple that walked in uninterrupted fellowship with God in a way none of us will truly comprehend until Heaven.  And while they were in this holy unison with the Creator, they completely lacked “self awareness.”  They were others-centered and God focused.  That’s why they never questioned the validity of whatever God told them was good.  They never questioned it because they never looked to themselves for answers. 

Unfortunately for them – and the rest of us – the devil was able to take full advantage of this naivety and deceive the woman into eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  The ironic footnote to their decision is that they already had knowledge of everything good because they knew God.  The only thing they got in this deal was the knowledge of what was evil.  And it was that awareness that caused Adam and Eve to consider their nakedness as something of which to be ashamed. Stripped of their innocence, they were destined to live a life of knowing all about evil, but having no power to overcome it.   

Blame is the human response to our awareness that we have sinned and fallen from innocence.  We are not perfect and when exposed, we feel the need to hide.  But in the same way that God offered Adam and Eve a righteous substitute for their sin, which required the shedding of blood, so He offers us a righteous substitute for our sin – Jesus Christ, who also shed His blood. 

And now to connect the dots back to our verse, Paul is telling the Galatians that they should accept responsibility for their own wrong doing because we have a Savior who died so that they could.  The way of the cross requires us to take responsibility for our own actions because one day we will again stand naked before our God and there will be no one else to blame for the decisions we made to call good what He clearly called evil.

When I find myself in a situation where I am inclined to “blame” someone else, I need to remember that this is a natural result of sin.  I will choose, instead, to walk in the power of my supernatural life and accept the responsibility for whatever decision put me in that situation in the first place.  And if I can find no responsibility on my part for the circumstances, then I will follow the lead of my sinless Savior who never opened His mouth to defend Himself, even though He truly was blameless.