[Steve Myers] It seems that right from the beginning, it was human nature to blame somebody else for our problems. Remember what Adam told God – the reason why he sinned? He said, "The woman You gave me, she gave me of the tree and I ate it. It's all her fault. Well, in fact, God, it must be Your fault that I messed up" (Genesis 3:12). And boy, doesn't that kind of set the tone for all of us? We all have a tendency at times to shift the responsibility for our problems, or maybe even our sins, to blame others. "It was my bad environment," "It was my parents who were to blame" – and we have a tendency to spin it.
I don't know if we've ever thought that in some ways it actually devalues others when we do that because the end result is, if I blame someone else, I feel better about myself because It's really their fault. It's really their problem. So maybe it's a good time to step back a little bit and ask ourselves, "Where in my life have I blamed others? Where do I need to stop blaming someone else?" You know, maybe it is in our upbringing. Maybe it's, "Well, I grew up with terrible parents." Well, is it time to quit blaming them and take responsibility? Or maybe it's, well, my family upbringing. Or maybe it's, you know, my job – I blame my job for my financial problems and that's the issue. It's my environment.
You know, at some point, do we have to stop blaming our friends, we have to stop blaming our family, or maybe it's even blaming my poor health, blaming my education or lack of education? You know, see, I think it comes down to that time that we have to step back and take personal responsibility. James 1 tells us we certainly can't blame God. He says so very clearly in James 1:13, "Let no one say when he's tempted, 'I am tempted by God'. God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone." In fact, it even goes on to say in the next verse, we're each tempted by our own selfish desires (James 1:14). And so, now's the time to stop that. Now's the time to quit the blame game and take personal responsibility, admit our own problems, admit our own sin, ask God for forgiveness and go on without playing that game any longer.
