I just got this email today: “Please help me! i need to talk to someone im in a horrible condition and tried to suicide once. Please i need to talk to a psychologist as soon as possible. You may not hear of me anymore in like a week im definitely going to suicide if nobody helps.”
The Blame Game
In my more than two decades of being a pastor, I have encountered a few cases like this (not too many) where a person would think of committing suicide for various reasons that affect them heavily. These are all to be taken seriously when someone tells you they’re attempting to commit suicide. This email writer above was kind of threatening me, warning me, blaming me and telling me that it’s going to be my fault if he commits suicide if I didn’t respond to his email. I don’t even know him. Somehow he got hold of my email address. Of course, I emailed back because it was kind of serious but that was the end of it. I did not get a response from him and I have no idea what happened next.
But let me talk about blaming others.
On Blaming Others
Most people who practice this blame game (blaming others) are the types who easily gets offended. They don’t like it when things don’t go their way the way they want it or the way they have planned it. Their emotional immaturity is obvious to all but the person himself is oblivious to it. They have a hard time relating to other people. Whether at work, in school or in the church, they normally get into trouble with their fellow classmates, workmates or church mates. Relationships are easily ruined. It’s something that is a pattern for this kind of person but the person himself doesn’t know that he has this problem. This person doesn’t know that he has become an expert in “how to lose friends and antagonize people.”
Accusing Others
How about you? Do you sometimes play this blame game too? The truth is, we all can play this game too once in a while without us being aware of it. Do you blame others too for the things that go wrong in your life? “It’s your fault, not mine!” “You have made my life miserable so I’m going to make you miserable too!” That’s how we sometimes act. In this situation, nobody wins. Everyone gets hurt. Relationships are ruined. We all need to grow up out of it.
There is one accuser that I know of. He loves to blame others. He is the accuser of the brothers in the Bible. He accuses us and blames us before God. It’s Satan the devil (Revelation 12:9-10). He can influence our thinking without us knowing it. Let us guard our minds and hearts when we begin to blame others. Stop it! The more we blame others, the more miserable we become. It’s bad for our health.
Grow Up to Maturity
Blaming others is a sign of immaturity. Let’s all grow out of it. Let’s instead grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).