The Blame Game

“And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.” 2 Timothy 2:24

Blaming is innate to our human condition. As Julie Andrews once sang “Let’s start from the very beginning….” In the beginning man and woman sinned. Adam blamed God for giving him the woman, the woman blamed the serpent for tricking her and interestingly enough, the serpent said nothing. (Genesis 3:6-13). Blame can be a game changer. Blame brings with it a whole host of offensive maneuvers; defensiveness, anger, and discouragement, to name a few. Oftentimes when we are blamed we have a knee-jerk reaction to defend ourselves against the attack. Defensiveness and anger lead to suspicion and disillusionment. When disillusionment sets in, division happens. Blaming can become a form of judgment. We shift the focus off of ourselves and place disappointment and culpability on another implying, “I would never do what you have done. You should have known better. I am far superior to you.” We should not be surprised that Satan tempts us to fall into the same prideful pattern that got him kicked out of heaven in the first place! (Ezekiel 28:12-19)

If we want to promote growth and healing as is the Lord’s desire (Colossians 1:10) then we need to ditch the blame game and instead come together with united creativity to explore new ways of doing a task better. Growth comes when we take responsibility for our own actions, work on the why something happened and how to reduce the chances of it happening again. Someone once said,“In my defenselessness my safety lies.” By putting on love and kindness instead of defensiveness and anger, we thwart the devil’s plan of destruction, thereby magnifying the healing presence and power of Jesus Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we are a broken people bent on an extraordinary desire to be right, first, and respected. This so often leads us to fall into pride and destructive behaviors. Father, break us of any habit we may have for being blame shifters and teach us to be better peace seekers and irrefutable examples of Your love, in the Name of Jesus, Amen.