“Shift the Blame” is the first game ever invented. It came on the scene long before Trivial Pursuit, Checkers, Hopscotch, Pin the Tail, or Jacks. It has been around since the Garden of Eden. God made Adam. Adam was lonely. God made a partner for Adam. Her name was Eve. God gave Adam and Eve one rule. “Don’t eat the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.” [Genesis 2-3]
One simple rule, easy to remember. One day Adam left Eve alone. The serpent came calling. The serpent convinced Eve that it was okay to break just that one rule. “God didn’t really mean what He said.” So Eve eats from THAT tree. Eve gives the fruit to Adam. Adam eats.
Adam and Eve are suddenly aware they are naked. They hear God coming. They hide. God finds them. “Why are you hiding?” They tell God they are hiding because they are naked. God asks them how they know they are naked. “Did you eat the fruit that was off-limits?”
And now the game begins! Eve shifts the blame to the serpent. “The serpent deceived me and I ate.” (It’s not my fault God, it’s the serpent’s. I would never have done such a thing if the devil hadn’t made me do it!)
Adam, on the other hand, shifts the blame to God. “The woman YOU gave me, she gave me some fruit and I ate.” (Things were going along quite nicely here in the garden until YOU created this woman!)
Unfortunately, this game never ends. That’s why the words of Paul in I Timothy 1:15 are so refreshing. “This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners’—and I am the worst of them.” [HCSB]
Paul didn’t shift the blame. When he came to Christ, he came as the worst of sinners needing a Savior. That’s the way we each must come. Owning up to the fact that we disobeyed and ate the wrong fruit, and now we are naked and hiding in the bushes away from God. Boy, do we need a Savior!
