Idiots and Dummies

Barnes and Noble, and the countless other modern day bookstore/library/coffee shops, are filled with books that are meant to help people like us fix our own problems, straighten out our own lives, get to the place we envision. They are self-help books and there are thousands of new ones published each year, books for dummies, complete guides for idiots, how-to's for women and men, kids and grown ups. If you don't know how do do just about anything you can find a book to teach you. But can we truly master things like gourmet cooking through a book? Can we discover our true selves by reading a great philosopher's ideas? Self-help books have done great things for us, but they have also played into the human condition that "I can do it myself." The thing is, we can't do everything ourselves.

We've been talking about discipline this past week in exercise, finances, and our organization. And it is important to learn discipline, but discipline cannot take us the whole way we are headed, the same as self-help books cannot get us where we are going. They both help, but we need an outside influence, a leg up. We can only get so far on our own. At some point we need a guide, something to bridge the gap between our breaking point and the goal. No matter how hard we try or the resolve we have, we cannot finish this race on our own terms or our own strength. We need help. We need Jesus. (There is a great new song that is coming to mind this morning by David Crowder Band, Here is Our King. Press ctrl+N for new window then click on Listen. That opens up a new window so you can listen AND finish the blog.)

"In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all." (Romans 8:3b, The Message)

I know it sounds trite. You've heard it before. But the truth remains. Jesus is the bridge to get us to where we need to go. I'm not talking heaven, although we need him for that, too, rather I'm talking about life, here. If humanity were as good as it could be, there wouldn't be billions spent on those self-help books. We recognize our need and even make light of it. Why else would we even be seen buying books for idiots or dummies? We need the help only God can bring us. We need God's hand to set our lives right and even to keep us on the right path.

"Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life." (Romans 8:5, The Message) What is it that God can bring us that we alone can't do? We don't know right from wrong without God. We don't know our right direction for living with out God's life giving action not only for us, but in us. Self-help even reveals its flaw in its description, self. When self is our focus we miss the larger picture of life. When we have discipline and focus on the self we end up building for ourselves a prison that we cannot break out of. But with Christ, we learn (not earn) a spacious freedom for living. When we focus on God, our life opens us dramatically. We see life in all it's fullness, as if scales were removed from our eyes.

We've focused on discipline not to see how badly we have failed, but to see how much we need God. The discipline we need is not about getting better, it is about focus. When our lives are focused on God completely, all falls into place. Fall into the arms of Christ today and enjoy the freedom in his life that makes our self-discipline so sweet.

Grace & Peace ><>
PC