“Self” help?
Paul Little once wrote that the only difference between Christians and non-Christians is that…both are just beggars, but the Christian knows where to find the bread.
Apparently it’s true in more than just the obvious way. What would you think are the biggest selling books in Christian bookstores?
If you say Bibles, guess again. And it’s not devotionals, or apologetics, or even fiction. Can you guess what they are?
If you say it’s those so-called “self help” books, you’d be right …even though those things are among the biggest Christian oxymorons out there.
Why do I say that?
Because it’s implied in the word that one can “help himself” by using those books. It’s the age old lie that goes back to Adam and Eve…that we can “help ourselves” out of whatever difficulty we’re in….as if we don’t need God that much at all.
Au contraire, mon freres…if the Bible teaches us anything, it’s that we are completely dependent on the grace and mercy of God for ANYTHING we get in life…and there IS no help available from anyplace except God. Furthermore, it teaches us to seek the Lord at all times for all things…that nothing else can be fully trusted.
“Self-help”, in other words, is just another example of buying into the lies of the ages in order to get us away from the God that has proven Himself to be the sole means of sufficiency for our needs and hopes through all oftime.
I realize that some of the Christian-oriented self help books try to encourage us to put our entire trust in God, and not all of them are mouthpieces for the secular world trying to infiltrate the lives of otherwise devoted believers. But if one peruses them closely, one is amazed at just how secular these “Christian” books are.
I guess it only figures, because many of us Christians try to rationalize our behaviors when it comes to our lifestyle choices and popular media. In light of that, why is it so surprising that we’re willing to buy into the ways of the heathen world to escape our difficulties and our annoyances?
Yet, when it’s all said and done, we’re always told to not put our trust in men, but in God. And as we grow in the faith, that realization becomes more and more evident to us daily.
Posted on Jun 12, 2006 - 08:46 PM | [0]
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