The Blame Game

Gloria and I had a coupon for $20 of food at Fat Burgers. The coupon cost only $10 online. What a deal!
I don’t eat burgers very often; they are not on my healthful-foods list. But an occasional burger won’t kill me, will it? Besides, Fat Burger cooks up such tasty burgers.
There’s more to the story. Fat Burgers’ milkshakes are also not on my healthful-foods list, but they also taste good, and an occasional milkshake won’t kill me either.
Nevertheless, I had planned to order only a burger and a fountain drink—a Diet Coke until my wife and the order taker pressured me to order a milkshake. They reasoned I could order $20 worth of food for just $10. Why skimp?
I succumbed to the temptation, and after draining the last drop of strawberry milkshake, I excused my dietary sin by blaming my wife. If she hadn’t found such a good deal on line . . . if she hadn’t talked me into the milkshake. And then I remembered the old story of Adam and Eve. When confronted with his sin, Adam told God the woman He had brought into his life had given him some of the forbidden fruit, and he ate it. In other words, Adam engaged in the blame game. He blamed not only Eve but also God. After all, God had give Eve to him.
From Adam until now, the blame game has been popular. Here are a few comments that prove my point:
“I wouldn’t be such a nag if you would help with the kids and the housework once in a while.”
“How do you expect me to get good grades in that class? The teacher puts trick questions in every test.”
“I admit I have a hot temper, but my parents abused me when I was a kid.”
“So I get into trouble, but I had good friends where we used to live. If you and Mom hadn’t moved away from the old place, I wouldn’t have gotten mixed up with a gang.”
“The traffic light switched from green to red before I could stop.”
“I would have birdied the 15th hole if Fred hadn’t sneezed just as I was putting.”
“Sure, the economy’s a mess, but we inherited eight years of poor management.”
“It’s all Bush’s fault.”
Blaming others for our sins doesn’t fool God. The only way to shake off our guilt and become blameless in His sight is to believe Jesus took the punishment for all our sin, admit our guilt, and receive Jesus as our Savior. King David wrote: “I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity, I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD’—and you forgave the guilt of my sin” (Psalm 32:5).