Self-Help Isn’t a Biblical Benchmark

The grapes in a vineyard are helpless apart from the vine.

Years ago, I interviewed the CEO of a major corporation who talked about how he became immersed in self-help books, audiotapes, and other motivational resources. He was always striving to become a better executive, eagerly studying and testing any technique or philosophy he thought might enhance his skills and productivity.

Sometimes he would be sitting quietly in his den, wearing headphones and listening to the latest self-help message he had discovered. If his children wanted to visit with him, one would warn the other, “Don’t bother Dad now. He’s motivating.”

 

Bookstores – a vanishing breed these days, sad to say – have long recognized the “self-help” section as one of the most popular destinations for customers. Who doesn’t want to improve, whether it’s becoming a more successful person, more adept craftsman, more skilled artist, athlete or photographer, better spouse or parent, or any of myriad other life pursuits?

 

The one exception, I suppose, was the bookstore employee who, when asked by a customer where to find the self-help section, responded, “Help yourself!”

 

In many ways, the self-help approach to life remains the rage. The Internet, especially with resources like YouTube and Google, has only fed our self-help appetite. We can find videos showing how to do virtually anything, from hanging a picture on the wall to assembling a bicycle, learning how to play the guitar or drums to fixing a leaking faucet.

 

You’ve probably heard someone say, “You have to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.” Have you ever tried to do that? Talk about a superpower! And who has shoes or boots with bootstraps anymore, anyway?

 

We’ve even spiritualized the self-help philosophy somewhat. There’s the adage, “God helps those who help themselves.” This saying has been attributed to Benjamin Franklin, while others contend it was coined by a British politician named Algernon Sidney. Someone quipped a variation of this saying, “God helps those who help themselves, but God help those who get caught helping themselves.”

 

Some folks might say, “Doesn’t the Bible say, ‘God helps those who help themselves’?” No, you won’t find it there, unless you’re consulting the books of 2 Opinions or 3 Babylonians. (Which aren’t in the Bible either.) Seriously, if anything, the essence of the Scriptures is quite contrary to the self-help mindset.

 

British preacher and theologian A.W. Pink summed it up well when he said, “To declare that God helps those who help themselves is to repudiate one of the most precious truths taught in the Bible, and in the Bible alone; namely, that God helps those who are unable to help themselves, who have tried again and again only to fail.”

 

We could cite dozens, even hundreds of passages about how the Lord helps those unable to help themselves, but a good place to start is Jesus. Speaking to His disciples, Jesus used a vine as a metaphor for dependence on Him: 

“Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself, it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5).

 

The apostle Paul might have had this admonition in mind when he wrote, “I can do everything through [Christ] who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).

 

Paul, despite his many accomplishments, never got over his dependence on God. He wrote about a “thorn in the flesh” that he had, although the apostle never specified what that was. It was a perpetual affliction, to the point that, “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me…. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

 

The corporate executive I mentioned earlier discovered this. Someone introduced him to the Bible, and in the process, to Jesus Christ. Before long, he said he disposed of all his self-help resources and started using the Bible, its teachings and truths as his guide, both professionally and personally. And that remained the case for the remainder of his life.

We live in a culture that was birthed with a “can do” spirit, individuals filled with determination and self-will to accomplish great things. They were the original “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” folks. Certainly, we all have abilities and talents in certain areas. But from an eternal perspective, we truly cannot do anything apart from the indwelling power of God’s Spirit. Paul noted Jesus’ earthly life was filled with the power of God, and “by God’s power we will live in Him to serve you” (2 Corinthians 13:4). 

The ‘How-To’ Book That Teaches We Can’t

Self-help and how-to books promise help for just
about anything, except what's most important.

Have you checked out the self-help section at the local bookstore lately? On those shelves we can find “how-to” books on practically everything: Becoming a millionaire. Growing prize-winning flowers. Finding lasting happiness. Redesigning a house. Taking eye-catching photos. Starting a successful business. Achieving greater intimacy.

We all would like to know how to excel in our favorite pursuits and passions. And if by reading their how-to books we can learn the secrets of others who have already excelled at them, it can save us lots of time and effort. At least that’s what the books promise.

But there’s one book you won’t find on most self-help shelves, because it stresses how not to do something. In fact, it emphasizes that what we might yearn to do is exactly what we truly can’t do. What’s the book? The Bible.

And what is it the Bible teaches that we can’t do? It tells us emphatically that we can’t live the so-called “Christian life.”

We’ve all heard the saying, “God helps those that help themselves.” Well, you won’t find that adage in the Scriptures. Maybe it’s in 2 Opinions, but not in the 66 books of the Bible. In fact, what we find is quite the opposite. During one of His discourses, Jesus declared, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

In terms of accomplishing things of eternal value, Jesus didn’t say there are only some things we can do. No. He stated we’re unable to accomplish anything of lasting significance apart from Him.

The apostle Paul affirmed this when he stated, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). Later he added, “I can do everything through him (Jesus Christ) who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).

Recently I spoke at a men’s breakfast on, “How Do You Live the Christian Life?” I explained the process God began in my life in 1981, enabling me to understand with increasing certainty over the past 35 years that the answer to this question is simple: I can’t. The Christian life isn’t hard. It’s not difficult. It’s impossible to live, humanly speaking.

This is one of the truths that set Christianity apart from any other belief system or religion. Religions essentially stipulate, “This is what you must do – and what you must not do.” In the Scriptures we find that in Jesus, what must be done has already been done. Once and for all.

The Bible’s Old Testament shows the people of Israel had plenty of laws of follow. They just did a miserable job of following them. As someone observed, “Before Moses got to the bottom of Mt. Sinai with the Ten Commandments, the Israelites had already broken every one of them!”

But the fact we can’t possibly live the perfect, holy life God requires doesn’t mean we should shrug our shoulders and resign ourselves to being “sinners saved by grace.” Because through the power of Christ, we can live the life we can’t possibly live in what the Bible calls “the flesh.”

We all have struggles; some of them seem insurmountable. Deep-seated anger, or anxiety, as I’ve dealt with for much of my life. There might be addictions or other compulsions we can’t control. Inability to forgive and bitterness are particularly problematic for some. But in wrestling with such “besetting sins,” those who have truly been “born again” in Christ can’t opt for the excuse that comedian Flip Wilson’s character, “Geraldine,” often used: “The devil made me do it!”

Because if we scour the Scriptures, doing as the ancient Bereans did, who “examined the Scriptures every day to see if what (they heard) was true” (Acts 17:11), we discover sin no longer holds mastery over us.

In the 6^th chapter of Romans alone, we find numerous passages declaring we have “a new life,” that “we should no longer be slaves to sin,” we are “dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus,” and we “have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” If we can grasp such truth, believe it, and act according to it, rather than depending on our feelings at any particular moment, the impact can be transformative.

As Galatians 5:1 declares, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free….” Years before the apostle Paul made that assertion, Jesus gave this promise: “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free…if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:32-36).

We’d do well to heed the oft-repeated words of the late Wayne Barber, beloved pastor of a church in Chattanooga, Tenn. who recently passed from this life: 
      “I can’t. God never said I could. He can, and He always said He would!” 

When ‘Want To’ Becomes ‘Have To!’

Have you ever wanted to do something – perhaps take lessons on a musical instrument, try a new hobby, travel somewhere you’ve always wanted to see? How about making a major life change, such as leaving a job where you feel stuck, going back to get a college degree, or starting a new career?

Most of us have, probably more than once. Unfortunately, our “want to” wasn’t strong enough to become “have to.” We spent time wishing things were different, but not doing much about it.

That’s why I’m so excited about the new book my friend, Gary Highfield, has written. In fact, When ‘Want To’ Becomes ‘Have To!’ is a book that you – and someone you know – need to read.

In When 'Want To' Becomes 'Have To!'
Gary Highfield tells an unforgettable story.

Enduring a very difficult childhood, encountering nearly every form of adversity a young person could face, Gary had lots of “want to.” Many times he imagined his life being different. I won’t give the details – that would spoil your enjoyment of his amazing story. But one day his “want to” turned into “have to.” Gary realized there was no point in waiting for someone to change his situation and provide the better life he desired for his family. He had to take steps to initiate the changes.

Not that he wasn’t already trying. Gary had a dead-end, hourly wage job doing manual labor. He also worked odd jobs to earn a few extra dollars. But he still couldn’t afford to occasionally take his family of five to an inexpensive restaurant. What he needed was not to work harder or longer, but to work smarter – and develop talents and abilities God had given him.

Three apparent setbacks turned into proverbial blessings in disguise, escalating Gary’s quest for a better life: being turned down for food stamps; being refused a $1 an hour raise at work; and being terminated from his first sales job – ironically, because he did it too well. Refusing to accept failure as a final verdict, Gary ratcheted up his determination, practically begging for a probationary sales job with a cellular phone company in the industry’s early years.

Applying principles and strategies he’d learned by reading inspirational and self-help books, listening to motivational tapes, receiving timely, providential help from friends and strangers, and pushing himself outside his own comfort zone, Gary became his company’s top salesman. Throughout his life, people had told him, “You can’t do that,” but he ignored them. As Gary says today, “Impossible is only possible if you quit.”

Writing a book is one of his “impossibilities.” He and I met more than a year ago through a mutual friend. Gary had compiled a very rough draft for a book, telling his story and sharing many of the insights he’d gained through years of struggle, resolve and finally, success. But he recognized he wasn’t a writer. That’s where I came in. Over the next 12 months I served as his editor, helping shape and refine his content into a book we both believe can make a profound difference in many people’s lives.

When you read When ‘Want To’ Becomes ‘Have To!’ you’ll discover Gary’s moving, sometimes heart-wrenching, sometimes funny account of grit, gumption, guile and most of all, God’s grace.

As we worked together on the book, several Bible passages came to mind. “If anyone will not work, neither let him eat,” 2 Thessalonians 3:10 declares. (This verse, curiously enough, was adapted into the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx.) Gary was more than willing to work, and work hard. He just needed to learn how to work better.

Proverbs 21:5 states, “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.” Gary didn’t become an overnight success, not by any imaginative stretch. He set goals, met with people to learn from them, embraced a vision and pursued it. He planned his work and worked his plan, lifting his family from the shadow of poverty.

His unique life and career journey could be summarized by Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” He did what he believed was right, even when the outcome wasn't clear. Sometimes his wife, Kimberly, wondered about what he was doing. But keeping one eye on God and one eye on the plow, Gary was able to achieve the fulfilling life of his dreams.

So I highly recommend this book, not because I had anything to do with it, but because it’s a book whose time has come. In an age of so-called “entitlements,” and justified hand-wringing over how to help people in need, Gary’s authored a book that’s both personal and practical, filled with principles and truths worthwhile for people in all circumstances. As the subtitle suggests, it’s a guide for “breaking the chains that are holding you back.”