The Devil Made Me Do It!

Let’s play the blame game. No rules. No responsibility. No consequences. So easy that a child can play it.

Take my great-grandson, Gideon, for example. He was four at the time, with snow-white hair, baby blue eyes, and as hyper as a squirrel on speed.

One afternoon during a family get-together at our house, I stepped out on the deck to find birdseed scattered everywhere. And I knew, without a shadow of doubt, who did it.

“Gideon! Come here!”

Like a playful puppy, he came running to the deck.

“Did you do this?”

“No. I didn’t do that!”

“Then who did?”

“Big Bird did it!”

“Oh! He did, did he?” Then, pointing to the birdseed scattered on the back porch, I questioned, “Did Big Bird do that, too?”

“Noooo! Little Bird did it!”

The blame game. It begins in childhood and continues throughout our lives. It’s the wife’s fault that her husband beats her half to death. It’s the cops’ fault for stopping someone for driving under the influence. It’s the teacher’s fault that the student got caught cheating. It’s the woman’s fault that she got raped.

On and on it goes. Why should I get in trouble? Why should I take responsibility when I can pin the blame on someone else? Pretty soon, it becomes a destructive habit of lying, cheating, manipulation, and control beyond comprehension.

Even a Godly heart knows how to play the blame game, but never without its consequences: restless, sleepless nights, irritability, and many other forms of conviction that hopefully lead to repentance.

Blaming others is nothing short of a bald-faced lie, a coward’s way out of taking responsibility, regardless of the impact on someone else. Sadly, it’s become an epidemic in the world today. “Why should I pay when I can blame it on someone else? Why should I lose my job? Why should I stand trial and go to jail?”

Blaming others takes us all the way back to Genesis 3: 6-12 where Adam blamed God and Eve. Eve blamed God and the serpent, and surprisingly, the serpent blamed no one. His greatest mission was completed, for which he proudly took all the credit. In his gleaming arrogance, he deniably cut his own throat with God’s deadly curse, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel (Genesis 3:15).”

Jesus, God’s perfect Son, is the woman’s offspring. Satan struck his heel through his crucifixion, and Jesus crushed his head through his death and triumphant resurrection!

Is it worth destroying someone else to save your own skin? Is it worth the consequences and the penalty for sin? Is it worth destroying your own life? Satan thought so. But in the end, God will wipe that arrogant smile off his face, strip him of all his power, and cast him into the lake of fire and brimstone where he will be tormented day and night forever and ever (Revelation 20:10).

The blame game isn’t a fun game for anyone to play. It offers no rewards and promises only sorrow and pain. Like quicksand, it slowly swallows the soul alive. It’s the game Satan invented and plays, so how can anything good possibly come from it?

Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy (Proverbs 28:13 NIV).