Ever seen a flamethrower in a film? It’s a fiery torch designed to destroy people. ‘Blame-throwers’ do the same. When life doesn’t go their way, instead of taking responsibility for their decisions and actions they blame others. We can often become blame-throwers, blaming others for things that happen, and don’t happen, in our lives. It often sounds something like this: We reacted in anger because someone wound us up too much. We can’t change because this is how we’ve been bought up. We failed at our task because we weren’t given enough support. But the Bible says: ‘Each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.’ We will have to explain our thoughts, actions and words. Not with lots of excuses and blame-shifting but with truth and integrity. The problem with shifting the blame is that it stops us from taking constructive action and moving on with our lives. It’s true that not everything is our fault. Sometimes other people are to blame for the things in our lives. But there’s something we’re always responsible for, and that’s our reaction. How we react to a circumstance or a person, is up to us. In Proverbs, it says: ‘Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy’ (28:13 NIV). We need to admit to God when we’ve gone wrong. Let’s not blame others and find excuses for why we reacted the way we did. We all make mistakes. Sometimes we stumble and fall. But we always have a God who’s ready to pick us up, forgive us and give us the strength to go forwards again.
