Taking the Blame
READ: 1 Peter 2:19-25
Have you ever been given the blame for something you didn’t do? For example, your parents notice a stain on the carpet from a spilled soda. Your older brother says that he saw you spill the soda and that you didn’t clean it up. Now, you have to clean up the mess, and you are not allowed to have soda in the living room for a while. Even though you didn’t spill the soda you still get punished for it. Now you probably want to get your brother back, so you try to get him into trouble by blaming something on him. Of course, if your brother isn’t home, there isn’t anyone to share the blame. That is, unless you want to try to convince your parents that it was the dog’s turn to take out the trash which wasn’t taken out...
Just think how Jesus felt while he was hanging on the cross. He was given the blame for all of our sins. Because of our sins, Jesus was whipped, beaten, and killed. Just think how you feel when you are given the blame for one thing. Now how would you feel if you were given the blame for every sin that has ever happened or will ever happen? You would probably want to get back at the other people. Jesus could have made us pay for our sins by damning us to eternal punsihment in hell. But Jesus didn’t get back at us for giving him the blame, because He loves us so much! Now we are cleared from all of our sins. In Christ, we are blameless!
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT: How did you feel the time you lied and laid the blame on someone else? How did you feel the last time you admitted to doing something wrong? What might motivate us to clean-up the mess of someone else’s mistake?
PRAYER SUGGESTIONS: Help us not to lie and lay the blame on someone else. Thanks for sending Jesus to take our blame for us.