Owning up

The man said, "The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it" (Genesis 3:12).

When we do something wrong, we know that sooner or later punishment will follow. It might come in the form of criticism or a disappointed look; it might involve losing some privileges or having to give something in compensation. 

Since no one likes to be punished, we often try to fix the blame on someone else.  It was your wife’s nagging that got you mad enough to throw a punch.  The only reason you egged the teacher’s house is because of that low grade which got you suspended from the team.  You wouldn’t have been speeding if all that road construction hadn’t put you behind schedule.

Trying to shift blame to someone else is as old as time.  In the Garden of Eden, Adam tried to blame God for his mistake, claiming that the Lord had given him a defective wife. Eve, of course, blamed the serpent.  But you can’t pull the wool over God’s eyes; He knows everything we’ve been up to.  He expects us to own up to our failures and mistakes, not try to pawn them off on someone else.  Bad enough that we deserve punishment for what we’ve done or failed to do; how much worse it is when we try to make someone else bear that punishment in our place?

Yet that is exactly what the Son of God chose to do on the cross.  He accepted the blame for each and every way that your conduct has failed to measure up.  He suffered unjustly because He loves you; He took your blame so you can know the peace and security of living with God as His forgiven, treasured child. 

When you try to escape punishment by passing the blame to others, you don’t receive the blessing of forgiveness.  Instead of finding relief from guilt and shame, you have to live with worry that sooner or later your deception will be exposed.  God wants to forgive you, but that can’t happen unless you confess your sins to Him and humbly beg for mercy.  The Lord only punishes those who won’t kneel before Jesus; He wants us to have faith in His love and confidence in His compassion.