Have you ever heard about manifesting? Although it seems to have taken on a modern form, the concept belongs to a family of New Age beliefs that brought about Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret based on The Law of Attraction.
You can hear about it many times in our culture today. Whether it’s in social media or television, people are talking about it as though it’s a commonly accepted fact.
Where Manifesting Came From
While its roots can stem from simple concepts like positive thinking, it has taken on a whole new dimension in that people can either believe it’s a spiritual thing or one with a scientific basis.
Hence, you may encounter YouTube videos speaking about how manifesting has worked powerfully in some people’s lives. You can also find several websites selling courses and encouraging people to learn about it as though it’s a simple exercise technique that’s good for your health.
But manifesting is so much more than positive thinking. Beneath it all, people can be misled into thinking that just by focusing on a certain thought, you’d get everything you want in life.
What’s wrong with this scenario?
There are two things I see that’s wrong in the above claim:
1. It’s simply not true.
2. It takes people away from true faith in God.
The Lie About Manifesting
The great lie about manifesting is that it doesn’t speak the whole truth. What it makes people believe in is a half-truth. People can’t immediately dismiss it because there is some sense in focusing on your goal and then working hard to achieve it.
But it isn’t true that this can work like magic in bringing everything you desire in life. It “can’t” bring back the dead, for instance. And it certainly can’t solve all of our relationship problems.
Most of all, by promoting an alternative to people, it can even take people away from belief in God. By thinking that “everything depends on me” and “I can manifest anything”, you’ve just become your own genie and possibly, your own little god. Instead of asking God’s providence for your life, you try to do everything in your power and falsely think that you can achieve everything “even without God’s grace”.
All the Things Manifesting Can Never Do
The concept of “manifesting” doesn’t seem to be unlike that of prosperity gospels. In both beliefs, what one usually desires are the material things that can satisfy us, keeping the mind attached to earthly things instead of focusing our gaze upon heaven.
While there is nothing wrong with working for your earthly needs, we can be deceived into forgetting altogether the most important things in life.
Even if you do get every material thing you wish for, that wouldn’t be enough to give you true happiness and peace.
Here are just some of the things manifesting can never do:
1. Introduce you to Christ
No magic formula can ever introduce you to Christ, the One who alone can give you eternal joy. If we fail to know Him, how can our hearts ever find rest?
We can have all the material things we need and still thirst deep within if we fail to have a personal relationship with Jesus.
2. Help you realize your sinful nature
Manifesting takes our eyes away from the true condition of our souls. It encourages the accumulation of various things instead of examining our true selves.
3. Find grace to grow in virtue and love
Virtue is often built through suffering. It isn’t something we can just think about to possess.
We work hard to grow spiritually as we cooperate with God’s grace working in our lives. We learn also to love through sacrifice and thinking about what’s best for other people, not just focusing on our selfish desires.
4. Give you eternal life
What manner of manifesting can ever give you eternal life? No matter how you focus your thoughts on it, you can’t live even up to 200 years on earth.
Only God can give you eternal life through Jesus Christ. He has already overcome death. All that’s left for us is to receive His gift with gratitude and faith.
Final Thoughts
Manifesting can sound like a harmless concept similar to positive thinking. But if you are a Christian, you should consider the true source of this belief as well as the consequences of being allured by its promises.
Jesus Himself told us the true secret to a joyful life. And that is to seek God’s Kingdom first! We must do what we can to work for our earthly needs, but let us not be deceived by ideas that take our gaze away from heaven.
“But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” – Matthew 6:33 (NRSVCE)
You may also want to read “What Science And Technology Can’t Help You Become”.
Jocelyn Soriano writes about the single life and her Catholic faith at Single Catholic Writer. She is currently single and happy and she would like everyone to know how happy we can be by drawing close to the love of God!
She is the author of To Love an Invisible God and Mend My Broken Heart.
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