Do not trust in princes, in mortal man, in whom there is no salvation. - Psalm 146:3

Playing the blame game?!

By Paul Bawden

The youngest daughter in a family is bringing her mother a mug of coffee she has made for her Mom. The son is clowning around in the room. She looks at him and spills some coffee on the floor. Immediately, before anybody can even say anything, the sister started shouting at her brother for making her spill the coffee.

Unfortunately, for her, all are on to her, so she doesn’t get away with the game she’s playing. Hopefully, she’ll eventually realize her strategy doesn’t work and will start accepting the responsibility for the things she does. At the moment though, her blame game is all about – “Look what you made me do!”

Have you ever played the blame game? I’m sure we all have at one time or another. I know I have. I would even ask, “Has our government ever played the blame game?

Is there a solution for us to keep from being part of the blame game? For the individual the solution is found in the spiritual world of true reality. For our blaming others for what we say or do means that we do not want to take responsibility for our actions.

Why don’t we want to take responsibility for our actions? Our spiritual part, our mind, will, and emotion, has a problem. What’s the problem? The Bible tells us that we have rebelled against the biblical God and have broken His law. Actually, we are sinners (Romans 3:23), a word that is not used, if at all, in the public square. In fact, it is foreign to public discourse.

Why so? We don’t want to own up to the fact that we are accountable for what we do, especially to some God who seems irrelevant if He exists at all. Oh yes, we may have some concept of right and wrong, but sinners?

The person who realizes one is a sinner needing the forgiveness and eternal life that Jesus Christ has won for Him through His death, burial, and bodily resurrection, and then believes that Jesus Christ is his or her Savior, that individual receives the new spiritual life of Jesus Christ. Christ also comes to live in one’s life spiritually as well as the Holy Spirit. The individual is adopted into God’s forever family as a son or daughter of the biblical God.

Now the believer has the life and power to take responsibility for his or her actions, while also knowing one is eternally loved and accepted by God as His son or daughter. As His son or daughter, the believer, relying on the inner power of God, doesn’t have to blame others for his or her actions, nor make excuses for one’s words and actions. One can take responsibility for one’s actions because the believer knows one is totally accepted by the Lord at all times. When the believer slips into the blame game, one can ask the other person’s forgiveness and then the Lord’s forgiveness (I John 1:9). The believer can continue on to take responsibility for one’s words and actions enjoying one’s relationship with the Lord and others.

Obviously, our US government, made up of individuals, plays the blame game. Just watch the nightly news. It would be a life-canging decision for those involved to understand the solution to the blame game is taking responsibility for their actions by having faith in Jesus Christ, and finding their forgiveness, acceptance, strength and wisdom in Him so they can lead our nation with honesty and integrity for the good of all. The same applies to other nations as well.

As a believer in Christ, live as God’s son or daughter in the Holy Spirit’s power. You will not be part of the blame game. You will live free in Christ!

Paul Bawden is married and served in the pastoral ministry for 45 years, retiring in 2011. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a B.A. in Speech and attended Dallas Theological Seminary, receiving a Master of Theology. He has taken counseling courses at Trinity Evangelical Seminary in Deerfield, Illinois. Paul is a lifetime member of the Evangelical Free Church of America, as well as being a member of Interim Pastor Ministries (IPM), which serves churches during their time of transition in searching for a new pastor. He writes for Union Gospel Press, as well as being a volunteer writer for GotQuestions.org. Paul likes to write, read, bike, and work in the yard. The Bawdens have had the privilege to travel to Mexico and Romania on mission trips and visited various countries in Europe.

BAWDEN ARCHIVES

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