THINK TOGETHER
Have you ever been blamed for something? Have you ever blamed someone else for something?
READ TOGETHER
Most of us are really good at blaming others for our mistakes. You might remember that in the Garden of Eden that’s exactly what Adam and Eve did when they sinned. Adam blamed Eve and God. Eve blamed the serpent. And ever since it’s been really, really easy for us to blame each other hasn’t it?
There’s a short little book in the New Testament called Jude. Jude was written by Jesus’ brother. At the end of this little book there is a great prayer that talks about our blame. Here it is:
Jude 24-25. 24Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
This prayer of Jude contains a great promise from God – He will present us blameless through Jesus. Blameless? Yes, blameless. Can you imagine never being blamed for anything ever again? Never being in trouble? Never getting it wrong? Never messing up? Never feeling guilty or ashamed of yourself?
With Jesus there is no more blame. Why? Because everything we’ve ever done wrong has been forgiven. And when God doesn’t blame you why should you feel like you need to blame someone else? Instead we can count on God’s never ending love for us and then take responsibility for what we do wrong. Learning from it and growing into someone who looks more and more like Jesus.
Because of Jesus we will stand before God as blameless as Jesus is.
With Jesus we can stop blaming others for our mistakes and take responsibility instead.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Give your kids a small object and tell them to pass it around a circle, keeping it hidden, while you have your eyes closed and count to 10. When you get to 10 you will open your eyes and guess who has the object. It’s their job to keep you from guessing who has the object. What happened? Did they lie? Did they blame? This illustrates what we do with our sin, but God says all our sin is forgiven.
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, you have made me blameless before God. Help me to stop blaming others for my mistakes and instead trust that I am forgiven instead. Amen.
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