We commit mistakes, small, big, and sometimes, costly ones. Our immediate instinct is to blame people and contexts. We even point our fingers to God, saying, “Don’t you know this Lord?” “Why didn’t you hear my prayers?” Well we follow our own parents, Adam and Eve who did the same thing. They did a costly mistake of missing the mark. When God made an inquiry, the first thing Adam did was he blamed God and his wife, Eve in the same wave length. He said, "The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." (Genesis 3:12). Eve was no different. She blamed serpent and said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." (v.13). The good Lord did not allow Satan, who was in the form of serpent, to talk! He knew that he is the culprit behind the blaming game.
The Solution
Imagine if only Adam had said, “It's me who went wrong, Lord. I didn’t hear the command you gave me properly when I was alone with you in the garden. After you created Eve, I should have communicated to her clearly. I could have even stopped her from eating, because when the serpent talked to her, well, I was with her! I am sorry!” And imagine Eve saying, “Lord I didn’t listen to Adam properly. Also I totally got confused when the serpent tricked and twisted the truth. I am sorry!” (Read Genesis chapters 2 and 3) Think of ourselves now! How nice and fair it would be if we can avoid the blame game in our daily lives, and say to our precious family and friends, “I am sorry. I could have…” and also say to God, “I am sorry!”
Guilt Kills, Confession Saves
How nice it would be, if we do not point our fingers to others! See what a Pharisee said pointing to others and a co-worshiper in the temple: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. He also justified himself saying, “I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.” Look at the tax collector. Standing at a distance, striking his breast, he said, “God have mercy on me, a sinner!” The Bible says: Jesus said “I tell you that this man (the tax collector), rather than the other (the Pharisee), went home justified before God (Luke 18:9-14). Feeling guilty of oneself is an essential part in the blame game. But that should not be carried for long. For guilt, kills. A guilty Judas, a culprit in the crucifixion of Jesus, killed himself. However confession helps. Another equally guilty disciple, Peter in the same passion events of Jesus, confessed his sins and was saved. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin and guilt (1 John 1:7 Amplified Bible).
If we need to live guilt-free, let us stop the blame game, pointing our fingers to others. God graciously clothed Adam and Eve’s guilt with garments of skins, symbolically showing his love and concern for them. The first sign of repentance is seen in Adam and Eve, when Eve named their first son, saying, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man." (4:1) and in the naming of Seth, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him." (v.26) Their second son Abel was a true worshipper of God, receiving God’s favour. The family of Adam after the birth of their third son, Seth began to call on the name of the Lord (v. 26). I am sure, even Adam and Eve who played the blame game were saved and became worshippers of Yahweh.
