If God helps those who help themselves, Who Is Gonna help me?
2 Corinthians 12:8-10, New International Version (NIV) 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 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. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Lets take the example of just two of these phrases and consider them through the lens of the gospel. “God helps those who help themselves.” Seems simple and straight forward enough. I mean, who can argue with this logic? It only makes sense in this world to encourage people to operate with the mind set that God expects us to make the most of our lives, seize our opportunities, take responsibility for our personal growth, and give God all the time and resources He may need to actually make something special out of our lives. It seems, in a culture full of educational, vocational and personal opportunity that we would teach people to be willing to start down the right road, if, in fact, we desire God to help us along the way. As a matter of fact, a recent Barna survey about this particular phrase indicated that 90 percent of all Americans believe this phrase to be in the Bible: "God Helps those who help themselves", "(The Gospel of First Opinion, chapter 1 verse I Know) After all, “footprints in the sand” only tells half of the story. The other times we don’t need to be carried, we’ve got it under control. The rest of the time we are walking where we should be walking, doing what we should be doing, honoring the faith in ways that show people how wonderful we really are. Why would we expect God to lend a hand to people who show no interest in morality, the Christian faith, or don’t even acknowledge God’s love for them in the first place? It makes very little sense for God to invest energy in persons who simply don’t care about the things God is concerned about. Grace is good, but grace wasted on people who don’t realize their need for grace and could care less about it, seems a colossal waste of time. Now, I understand that people don’t verbalize this so clearly, but our lives reflect the spirit of these words none the less. “God helps those who help themselves.”
Every time we put stipulations on our forgiveness, or migrate toward people who share our values, or invest time and money in those who will work our programs, or donate to charities that emphasize personal effort on the part of the recipient, or make our gracious acts toward those we deem worthy of our gracious acts, or worship with those whose life style conforms to our standard, or sit under teachers who we see as holy and righteous, or share our faith with those who worship the way we worship, or only attend bible studies taught by those we agree with, or punish people in our hearts for not giving the way we give, or avoid those who we think are tainted with unthinkable sin, or even avoid those who have tattoos and nose rings, we are limiting God’s grace. We are convincing ourselves that grace does not apply to everyone all the time, at least when this grace is being extended through me. “God helps those who help themselves” we quote in unison, as if the mere saying of these words by enough people will actually make them true.
In reality, this is the exact opposite of the gospel. Paul taught us that “when we were sinners, counted as enemies of God, Christ died for us.” Jesus whispers from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do”, long before any of those listening below became aware of the grace He was offering them. The thing that makes grace grace is the timing of the thing. It is given before it can be deserved. It is offered without considering the worthiness of the recipient. It happens before we even know we need it and long before we consciously acknowledge its existence. While we are busy trying to convince the world we are worth loving, God is busy loving us into the place where we can realize we will never of ourselves be worth loving. His love, his help, his mercy, and his choices toward us would never take place if God waited for us to “help ourselves.” A corpse cannot do anything to bring itself to life. An enemy is not interested in putting my needs before his own. A person estranged from God is running as fast as He can to escape His gaze and His judgment. None of us want to be found out. None of us are comfortable allowing someone to see us inside and out, know all there is to know, and then stand on our own merit, every thought and every deed, some how convincing ourselves we deserve good for our not so good. We all understand deep inside there is no life without grace. And the Bible is very clear. Without the atmosphere of the grace of God, in which God freely gives Himself to us in spite of the fact we will never merit this gift, we are left without hope in this world and the next. “God helps those who will never be able to help themselves” is in fact The Truth.
In this post-modern world in which we live our “isms” drive us to a place where truth, if there is such a thing, must be defined by words and phrases that those around us can easily adopt and cuddle. Respect is earned, truth is privatized, and love is felt. Honor is desired, Holiness is sought after, and Happiness is owed. Privilege is constitutional, Prosperity is the American Way, and penalties are deserved. When it comes to you, justice is deserved. When it comes to me, mercy is expected. And when it comes to life, Truth is ignored. Is it really so difficult to understand and acknowledge that without grace, unmerited and undeserved favor, that the world in which we live would simply be a very real version of hell on earth? Is it really so difficult to embrace the idea that grace is the only hope within a world where people fail daily, government transgresses powerfully, and the systems of our world fall so far short in delivering on the meaning and purpose and happiness they promise to us all?
Written on Monday, 01 August 2011 12:59 by Rick Farmer
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