July 30, 2015 WWJWMTD by Steve the son of John

The Blame Game vs. Forgiveness

#6 in the series on forgiveness

What? Who me? Not me? It was…! How often have you heard this from your kids? Humans are known for not taking ‘the blame’. Politicians live by placing any and all wrong doing on the other party. No one wants to accept any responsibility for things going wrong. We do not understand forgiveness or its power over our mistakes because of our part in the ‘blame game’.

Adam and Eve were the first to play this ‘blame game’. Adam said, ‘It was Eve’, Eve said, ‘Satan made me do it’. I can tell you for sure that when someone blames someone else, they had a part in it.

When we blame others forgiveness is far away, it will never to be realized nor will we have access to its’ benefits. You and I will never get to the ‘tree of life’—God will not allow us the freedom to life without repentance.

Repentance is not an option for the person who blames others or identifies someone else’s sin rather than their own. “Who is without sin, cast the first stone.” To have forgiveness is to be free from blaming and criticizing others. It is hard to admit wrongdoing and even harder not to criticize ‘the other person’.

Next time you think or begin to place blame on another person, realize that forgiveness will not be yours! Your freedom to forgiveness requires repentance, and repentance requires admitting your part in the wrongdoing.

Christianity is set apart from all other religions on this very principle—accepting one’s responsibility for one’s actions and being unwilling to condemn others for the same wrong. Forgiveness is mine—how do I know this? I do not blame others for my part in violating God’s laws. I am a sinner and Christ is my righteousness. There is nothing good in me and what good I might do is Christ in me alone. I choose forgiveness by not looking for an easy way out in blaming anyone else for my mistakes.

WWJWMTD

Dr. Steven J. Wentland www.wwjwmtd.com

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