Taking the Responsibility; Not Blaming Others

Recently, a friend shared the stories of his childhood and education. His brother was good in one school subject and he was good in another. They helped each other in their respective areas of “expertise”. But things started to go wrong when his brother befriended another boy who never studied well. As a result he failed that year. Few years later, he too became friends with another person who was not interested in studies. He failed too because...

After hearing this, I thought this is exactly what Adam and Eve did – blaming others. The narrative from Genesis 3:11-13 goes:

“How did you know you were naked?" God asked. "Did you eat any fruit from that tree in the middle of the garden?"

"It was the woman you put here with me," the man said. "She gave me some of the fruit, and I ate it."

The LORD God then asked the woman, "What have you done?" "The snake tricked me," she answered. "And I ate some of that fruit."

It’s not me… someone else is responsible. Easy to say but “straight/honest” thinker will not take that no matter how sophisticated that excuse is.

Occasionally I hear comments like:

·         The project went bad because that person did not work well.

·         My brother became a drunkard after a quarrel with his friend.

·         My spiritual life deteriorated because of my pastor who does not live according to God’s Word.

·          And many more…

The following verses from the Bible warn us loudly:

·         And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak (Matthew 12:36, NLT).

·         Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God (Roman 14:12, NLT).

Only two words the Scripture recommends: YES or NO. Nothing else! Let us humbly accept our fault and shortcomings. “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil (Matthew 5:37).”