Playing The Blame Game

Well you've finally gone and done it, you took the plunge, you walked into your local bookstore intent on becoming a better you, and having your best life now. When you see the 30% off sticker on the book jacket you think to yourself, 'surely this must be a sign from the heavens', only to discover that the discount was limited to book club members, and the membership costs forty dollars.
That's okay you figure you're willing to pay top dollar for a shot at becoming a better you, and living your best life now, pulling three crisp twenty dollar bills from your wallet, and getting eight dollars and change back. You've just made an investment in your future, you reason, a small price to pay for all the return on the initial investment you've been promised. You barely hear the monotonous 'have a nice day' from the sales clerk as you rush out into the bright midday sun, anxious to get home and devour the material. "Oh what glorious days await", you think to yourself, "in fact today might just be the low point of my existence on earth. Only sunny days from here on out, big smiles, a full wallet, and happy times."
So you get home, start reading, overlooking the cliches and the oddly familiar undertone of a bygone self help guru, and as soon as you're done, you start working the steps.
You work the program like an alcoholic works the twelve steps in between sips of his flask, you stay positive, you smile at yourself in the mirror, you smile at others until your facial muscles start to spasm, you're even nice to the waiter who sneezes in your eggs Florentine.
Yep, you're a better you already, and your best life is just around the corner!
A week passes, then a month, the initial enthusiasm wears off, and now you're waiting for that breakthrough, that blessing, that old prosperity gravy train, that should pull into your station any day now. Why you even bought a hard hat just in case a big bag of money falls out of the sky.
So much for that eating bread in the sweat of your face and toil and stuff, the next lotto drawing is only days away. Fingers crossed, positive thoughts, two days from now you just might wake up a millionaire.
More weeks roll by, life continues its course, for the past three straight drawings in a row you've only hit one out of six numbers, and you start getting discouraged, disheartened, deflated, then angry, and start blaming God.
It's not the guy who just sold you three hundred pages worth of illusions and unbliblical teachings, not yourself for not remembering the old adage 'if it's too good to be true, it probably is', you blame God for not following through on His end, after you completed the seven steps.
If you don't begin a journey with God, then check with Him halfway to see if you're on the right path, why do you blame God when your destination isn't what you imagined it to be?
God only authored one Book, yes that Book, that's been gathering dust on the bookshelf in the basement for the past three years while you've been chasing after snake oil salesmen who promise to tell you how to get rich and have everything you ever wanted, how to obtain prosperity thinking, how to see the beautiful you, and how to obtain the wisdom keys to prosperity.
So don't blame God that once again you fell for the empty promises of the wolfish grin on the cover of a book, because it wasn't His wolfish grin!
If we are going to play the blame game, and be honest in our assessment of who's to blame the answer will always be, us! Me, you, we are to blame, yes completely and crushingly the blame lies with us, because it is we who have chosen to circumvent the truth and the life, it is we who have chosen to bypass the Bible, because as one such preacher so famously put it, 'heaven can wait, I'm havin' a good time here.'
Their job is to sell you a product, package it just so to get your attention, and promise you the wealth of kings so you shell out the twenty five odd bucks in order to find the secret to this much lauded wealth and happiness. You can still walk away from the book store empty handed, you can still turn off the television, you can still open your Bible and see what it has to say concerning these things. I know it's a painful subject, but sooner or later we must face the fact that there needs to be personal accountability on our part for the things we believe, and the men we follow!
So if you really want to have your best life now, it doesn't take seven steps, or six, or even three, nor do you have to spend twenty five dollars in order to discover the secret. It takes one step, but it will be the most important step of your life. Surrender your heart, your body, your soul, your all to Jesus Christ the Son of the living God, and let Him take you by the hand, guide you, cleanse you, lead you to green pastures, and make you a better you.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea Jr.