The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
- Genesis 3:12-13

The woman (Eve) had options. What could she have said when God asked her “What is this you have done?”

“Wait! You’re just going to let Adam squeak out from under what he did!!!” #ShiftAttention

“It wasn’t me.” #DeceptionAndDenial

“Well … I didn’t hear him complaining. And I didn’t force him to eat that fruit.” #PassiveAggressiveDefense

“You’re the one who put the fruit here in the first place. This is your fault, God!” #AggressiveAggressiveDefense

“I ate the fruit. I gave some to Adam. I made a horrible decision that contributed significantly to this mess we’re in. I’m sorry. Please forgive me.” #OwnIt #ContributionNotBlame

Instead, Eve passed the blame forward. We see this pattern so often. Victims become victimizers. We echo, shadow and copy the hurtful things that were done to us.

Eve had options for how she would respond to both Adam’s and to her foolish choice to eat the fruit. We also have options for how we’ll respond to people’s blaming words and to the exposure of our foolish choices.

Some of us have been worn down so greatly by life and broken relationships that we don’t feel like we have choices anymore; we play the blame game without thinking twice about it. Perhaps the most life-giving thing we can tell you today is that in Jesus, you can choose how you’ll respond when someone blames you for their bad behavior or when you’re confronted about your own.

What would be a healthier thing to do than to blame someone for your foolish decisions? What does a healthy response look like when people blame us for their bad behavior?