And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”  Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”  And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”  Genesis 3:11-13 NKJV

The call to repentance is to take responsibility for your choices. You can only be forgiven for what you take responsibility for (Luke 15:17-18). Responsibility is the ability to respond; being accountable for one’s behavior; and, it encompasses your obligation to answer for or respond to circumstances that are a consequence of a decision that you made. The root and underlying source of all sin is irresponsibility.

In Genesis 3:1, 12, you can see Adam’s first and second act of irresponsibility: if the Serpent is in the Garden to deceive the Woman, then Adam failed to guard and keep it as God commanded (Gen. 2:15; 3:1). Second, in our text above, Adam blamed the Woman and God for his failure rather than owning up to his choice to disobey God’s clearly expressed commandment.

Like Adam, irresponsible people—after a sinful failure—will view God as their primary problem. But how can you receive God as your solution when you see Him as your problem? How can you expect love and forgiveness from the One who got you into the problem?  Just repent, i.e., take responsibility for your choices.Repentance is changing your mind about God. Repentance is not toward the sin but toward God (Heb. 6:1).

Adam insisted that he was right and God and Eve was wrong (verse 12). You can’t take responsibility for where you are if you have to be right. God’s grace—unconditional love and acceptance–delivers us from the need to be right. Why? Because FORGIVENESS existed before the sin, the SOLUTION existed before the problem, and the SUPPLY existed before the need. The root of all sin is irresponsibility!