The Lie of Self-HelpSample

Mind the Gap

The drapes over the windows and doors hung, torn and sagging, like the souls of everyone in the dimly lit home that night. I had never met the man who sat across from me. He stretched out to hand me the clear glass pipe freshly loaded with crystal methamphetamine. I took a hit, and in a moment, the drug’s rush was followed quickly by crushing condemnation.

In all my bottoming out, I had never gone this low. But to do it now was shattering. Just three weeks prior, I was delivered from my prison of self—transformed by the power of God. This shameful night happened after the light of Jesus had shined into the darkness of my soul and saved my life. Demons dropped their disguise and went all out. “Quit pretending to have found God, Karl. If people knew the real you, they’d trash you and your weak God.”

Suddenly, God gave me the strength to bolt from that place. I was running for my immediate safety, but I was trying to outrun my shame. I was starting to believe some wars couldn’t be won. The predictions of family and friends that I’d never really change were coming true.

There seems to be a gap (often a big one) between God’s promises for Christ-followers and what we experience in our day-to-day lives. These gaps are too common: God’s promised peace vs. our consistent stress; God’s promised wisdom for trials vs. our flying blind through life’s storms; God’s promised victory over destructive habits vs. hiding those things that are robbing, killing, and destroying us. God wants to close these gaps!

God is never content to let us settle for too little. We sometimes get a taste of what could be, and then we slip back into old patterns of living. But God promises us victory over these old patterns. I know the destructive thinking that rattles around in your mind, but I also know what God says about you.

He says we have been given every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1:3), including the power of the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13-14). He has prepared good works for us (Eph. 2:10) and chosen us to bear fruit in our lives (John 15:16).

Over the next few days, we’ll challenge the lie of self-help that tries to convince us that any battle we face as Christians must be won in our own strength. We’ll acknowledge how far our attempts to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps fall short and how God promises to repair our broken systems so that we can experience His promise of abundant life (John 10:10).

You’re not the only person who wrestles deeply with personal failings and feels like a spiritual impostor. By God’s grace, I’m no longer the man I was in that dark place and time as a new follower of Jesus. God won the war over cocaine, whiskey, and deadly choices—and to do it, He conquered Satan and my tendency to think victory is up to me. He wants to do the same for you no matter what you battle!

TIME TO LET GO:

• Confess to God your tendency to rely on your own effort for spiritual growth.
• Ask Him to reveal His power and provision over the next few days.