5 minute read
Let’s Just Blame God For Everything
By Elephant in the Room, South East Asia
“To err is human, to forgive, divine.” – Alexander Pope
The above statement could possibly be why, how and what is wrong with Christians today. One simply doesn’t realise easy it is, be it intentional or not, to misinterpret passages and statements or to veer or reconstruct meaning to serve our own narrative, purpose or intentions. Because as the statement suggests, it is only natural that as human beings, it is our birthright to make mistakes, to be erring all the time, basking in our faults because we certainly are not perfect. Although, created in the image of God, we are perpetually sinful and wretched as can be, hence it is an innate behaviour that is expected from all of us. But isn’t it so fortunate for us all because God forgives by default? It is so convenient for us, to assume on our sinful ways as God is a vending machine of forgiveness, readily available to dispense pardon with extravagant generosity and benevolence at the turn of a knob and everything is back to sunshine and rainbows in a blink of an eye. How rouge we are with His Word that life is just perceived as peaches and cream under this notion of unconditional forgiveness that is always readily laid out in a bed of roses for us Christians? When will we ever learn?
Human beings are an exquisite piece of work. Molded by love so divine and gracious, and in the image of God. But all that is reflective of God just ends right there – the image. We are so engulfed with the need to sin that we do not even realise how distant we are from our Heavenly Father. We are bitter, ungrateful, discontented and destructive towards the love he has showed us time and time again. We are so proud of ourselves, lording over species and even races because we’ve deemed how superior we are, how intelligent we are, how innovative we are, how ground breaking we can be in all our achievements that many often a time, we’ve forsaken everything that God has done for us. God has been sidelined because we have basked ourselves in our own glorious achievements that we subject The Almighty as the lifeline we would only fall back on when we are to fail ourselves, when we treat our faith like a little swiss army utility knife in our back pocket, only to swiftly whip out at the very last minute when all else proves futile.
“A person's own folly leads to their ruin, yet their heart rages against the LORD.” – Proverbs 19:3
And what could be the most atrocious thing? That we expect of God’s unconditional love and forgiveness but in return, we are not able to do the same.
I hear it all the time, “Where were you God, when I needed you most, why have you chosen to forsake me in my hour of need?”.
As much as we ask of God’s forgiveness, we also readily shift blame to our Heavenly Father for everything that has gone wrong within our lives. And it is deplorable what we can blame God for, no matter how big or small the issue that we are unable or unwilling to face and to account for, ourselves. God has been blamed for many things, for missing children or for not providing a safe passage in their return to their families, for sickness no matter how minor or grave, for the failing marriage that has crumbled over the years, for the change in climate and the devastation natural disasters that resulted to it, for our own wretchedness and inadequacies that we are the problem and that we refuse to acknowledge it…the list goes on as long as there is a convenient reason to – blame God for something.
And how could we be that myopic to all the issues that surrounds us. How are we even justifying blaming God for everything that has gone wrong in our lives, when very much so, everything that has gone wrong, is very much problems created by ourselves – the onus is on us and us only. Why are we so reliant on our faith only in times that are unsavoury to us but when things are well and good, we fail to give thanks? Do we want to continue to push the patience of our already very benevolent and gracious Heavenly Father? Although God is perceived of one of many opportunities but it does not mean opportunities to commit sin and then to ask for forgiveness thereafter as there are consequences to follow.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not depend on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” – Proverbs 3:5-6
Where is the conviction and trust in God and his Word that Christians are supposed to hold dear and close to their hearts? Could it be that we have never seen God in the flesh, thus provides us with a reason to be sloppy in our faith? This half-hearted approach is demeaning to the faith and is downright a disservice to all our brothers and sisters in Christ. Blaming God for the faults in our lives and to negotiate reasons for pardon of our sinful ways time after time is simply a display of the lack and wavering faith.
At the end of the day, how much do we really trust God? How invested are we in the faith which we have acknowledged that Christ was sent down to this Earth to suffer and die, to be sacrificed for our sins and provide us with a clean slate so that we are again, connected with God and given the opportunity to possibly enter the pearly gates in Heaven when the time comes for us?
We have been blessed with such precious opportunities but what we’ve been doing is simply frivolously squandering it on treacherous sin and the blame game. We ought to stop. Will we?
...Twenty-five years ago people could ” be excused for not know much, or doing much, about climate change.
