Blame -ODB

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A city employee in Lodi, California, is suing the city for damages after he backed a dump truck into his own parked car. The 51-year-old man argues that because the "city’s vehicle damaged my private vehicle," the city owes him $3,600. As ridiculous as this sounds, blaming others has been a basic human trait since the beginning.

When Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree, their eyes were opened and they lost their innocence. God asked the man a simple, yet penetrating question: "Where are you?" (Gen. 3:9). In the past, Adam had intimate fellowship with God, but now he responded in fear and hid himself.

God’s follow-up question was more convicting than the first: "Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?" (v.11). Then the blame game started: "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate" (v.12). The man blamed God and the woman for his sin. The woman blamed the serpent rather than herself. Ever since that day in the Garden of Eden, we tend to blame others rather than ourselves for our sinful choices.

When we sin, we should take responsibility. Let’s pray like David: "I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden" (Ps. 32:5). —Marvin Williams

Lord, help me not excuse my sin
And blame another person;
For if I don’t admit my wrong,
My sin will only worsen.

The first step in repenting from sin is to admit that you are to blame.

DownloadREAD: Genesis 3:1-13
The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” —Genesis 3:12