I was reading the book of Genesis a while ago, particularly Chapter 3 of Genesis. It was when God found out that Adam and Eve had eaten from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which He has forbidden them to. When God asked them why they ate the fruit from it, even though He told them not to, Adam blamed Eve for his wrongdoing and Eve in turn, blamed the snake who tempted her. 

We all know what happened in the end. Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden and all three of them (together with the snake) received their respective punishments. 

We can see here that from the moment Adam and Eve learned of the distinction between what is good and not, they began to commit sin and think of prejudices against each other.

One such sin is the sin of blaming each other for their own mistakes. Even if we argue that it was the snake who triggered Eve’s curiosity, it was still her own will which compelled her to eat the fruit. The same goes with Adam. Even if Eve convinced him to try it, he could have declined, right? But he did not.

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What does this mean for us right now?

Admit it, we had all blamed someone in the past already. Be it our team losing the game, or we being late in class, we had ALWAYS managed to pass the blame onto someone else. Seldom do we really own up our mistakes, especially if these will get us in trouble. Most of the time, we get away with blaming others, so naturally, we do it again.

Most of the time, we walk away  UNSCATHED, left only with a tiny pinch of guilt. But who cares right? At least we aren’t the ones taking all the blame and nitpicking.

Friends, God will always know what we have really done. Even if we somehow make other people believe that we are innocent, we cannot fool our Father above. His eyes watch our every move and He always, always know whether we passed on the blame or not. He knows and yet He hasn’t punished us that much. Because He loves us, and cares for us!

When you blame others, you don’t actually fool them. You only fool yourself, and God! How would you feel if you are acquitted with something that you did not even do? Or how would you react if suddenly, people begin to blame you because things did not work the way they wanted it to be? Of course, you’ll feel bad. You might even get angry at those people.

See? The rule is simple: If you do not want it to be done to you, then don’t do it to someone else.

God loves an honest child. He doesn’t care if you’re perfect or innocent or guilty. He loves you just the way you are, imperfections and all. Because you know that at the end of the day, He doesn’t look at the bad things you’ve done, but instead, He values you at your true worth.

The next time you think you’re in a pinch, and you feel like passing the blame onto somebody else, think of Jesus who died for our sins. He hadn’t really done anything wrong. But He was the one who bore all our ‘punishment’ for our sins. We did not exactly blame Him for what we had done, but He took the whole burden nonetheless. Think of His sacrifice for us.

In the first place, don’t do something risky if you’re not willing to take all the risk afterwards. Do not be afraid to admit your mistakes. People will love you more this way, because you’re brave enough to say that “Yes, I messed up. Give me another chance and I’ll do things right this time”, instead of “No, it was not me! It was his fault because….”

“Each one will carry his OWN load.” (Galatians 6:5)