Together in Christ: 'Refuse to Play the Blame Game' — Genesis 3:8-13

A relatively frequent saying in the parts from which I hail is earthy: "It's all going to hell in a handbasket." My fascination with this saying as a young boy was not so righteous. I could speak the truth and also be able to say "hell" in front of my parents, and in that instance, it wasn't considered swearing. Adam and Eve's willful sin ensured their world — and ours — was "going to hell in a handbasket" — division, death, and decay would soon spread to everyone and everything in the world. ^[1]

Adam and Eve sinned, then hid from God. They made coverings for their nakedness to hide from each other. (Hiding is a frequent consequence of the recognition of sin.) Then, they started the blame game. Adam blamed Eve for his sin. Eve blamed the serpent God made for her sin, thus also blaming God. As sin entered the world, it began to sully the undefiled goodness of God's creation. As the rest of Genesis chapters 3-11 shows, sin permeated the world with bondage to division, decay, and death. Neither Adam nor Eve could fix the brokenness they brought to God's "very good" creation.

Instead of playing the blame game, the man and the woman could have confessed their sinfulness. But they chose to blame each other and God's creation as they sought to evade responsibility for their sin. Their rebellion and hiding from God embedded the latent power of sin to wound and mar future generations.

We must avoid the blame game. James, the half-brother of Jesus, challenged us to confess our sins and have someone pray for us so we could find healing. ^[2] John, the apostle, promised that if we owned our sin — confess it to someone and turn away from that sin — then God would not only forgive our sins but also cleanse us and make us holy. ^[3] So, let's refuse to hide and play the blame game with our sin. We can confess it and invite God to make us clean because of the loving work of Jesus, God's Son. ^[4]