Taking the blame

So, after last night's Champions League final (if you don't like football, read on anyway, it's not really about that), the usual recriminations have begun. UEFA are criticising the Liverpool fans who stormed a barrier outside the stadium. The fans are blaming the police who used tear gas on them. The media are blaming UEFA for not having proper ticketing procedures. UEFA in turn are blaming the fans who travelled to Athens (where the game was) without tickets. One thing's for sure - no-one's going to stand up and say 'Yup, it was my fault. I'm to blame.'

We live in a blame-shifting society, if you think about it. People always try to show it was someone else's fault. It's a natural human trait - you watch a five-year-old caught in the act of hitting someone else try to blame everyone else. It happens so often we don't really notice - when was the last time you heard a politician come on TV and say 'Yes, it was my fault. I'm to blame. This mess was caused mainly by me'?

Our natural reaction is always to shift the blame. It's what Adam and Eve did when they ate the forbidden fruit and committed the first act of rebellion against God - Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the snake. But actually, seeking to move the fault onto others is exhausting (how tiring is it to think up and stick to excuses?)...and ultimately, according to the Bible, it's pointless.

The opening chapters of Romans address people who have all sorts of excuses for why God shouldn't be angry at them for sinning. It's not their fault...they didn't know...someone else is worse anyway...but one day God will no longer let anyone pass the buck. 'Every mouth may be silenced and the whole world (will be) held accountable to God' (Romans 3:19). One day, as people stand before God to be judged, all those excuses will stick in the throat, and all anyone will be able to say is 'Yes, I'm to blame. I've messed up. I've rebelled. It's my fault'.

How much more liberating, and sensible, to admit when we're at fault now. How wonderful to be able, today, not to try to pass the buck or make excuses, but to say to God, as Paul does, 'I am the worst of sinners.' As we look at ourselves, our thoughts and actions and words, we know we've messed up - we know, as Paul did, that we are sinners. Let's be honest, let's admit our sins, let's accept that we're to blame. No-one else. Us.

Because when we do that, and only when we do that, we're forgiven. As Paul says, 'Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the worst' (1 Timothy 1:15). That's wonderful - we admit we're to blame, but Christ came to take the blame! But he only does that for those who know and accept they're at fault, not for those who seek to pass the buck. In this culture of ours which seeks to blame everyone else but ourselves, as Christians let's be honest with ourselves, with others and most importantly with God. Let's acknowledge when we get things wrong, let's accept when we should take the blame, and let's turn to the God who forgives everyone who, like Paul, knows they're an awful sinner, and who knows that Jesus has come to save them.