God helps those who help themselves…or does he?
March 24, 2009 2 Comments
“God helps those who help themselves,” my dad seems to throw this saying around, especially when talking about my financial inefficiencies. But recently, I have been thinking how much this statement seems to contradict the ministry of Jesus. Doesn’t it appear that Jesus helps those who cannot help themselves.
I am reminded of the story of the paralytic whose friends lowered him down through the roof to be healed by Jesus. There was nothing that this man could have done to walk again. His only hope was that Jesus would have mercy on him and heal him. His friends cared enough about him that everything they could to get him to Jesus. But when this man was brought face to face with Jesus, he was told to “pick up his mat want walk.” The hope that this man and his friends had in Jesus’ ability came to fruition.
This story and others like it should serve as reminders to each of us that a major part of Jesus’ ministry was bring hope to those who had no other means of helping themselves. As the church today, we should realize that it is our responsibility to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and help those who cannot help themselves. In different communities this may mean different things, but if we take Jesus seriously then we need to make it part of our ministry to bring hope to those who have no hope. God is not looking for those who are helping themselves, but rather those who have no hope.
Paul-true compassion is never earned. and yet i know exactly what you mean. mike, perhaps a truer, but more unwieldy statement is “Jesus helped those who couldn’t help themselves… those who help themselves don’t appear to need Jesus.”
Hey Mike,
I got directed to your blog from Chad. Anyway, I’ve been struggling with this exact issue this week. I guy in our town got drunk one night, came home, fell over in his bathroom, hit his head on the tub and died of the injury. He leaves behind a wife and son, none of them were church folk, I don’t know what was in their hearts, but they seemed to not have much of God there. He also didn’t have any life insurance and not enough money to pay for the funeral. So a friend of theirs asked our church to take up an offering to help pay for it.
Part of me wants to say, “God helps those who help themselves” and this guy didn’t help himself. Part of me is pulled towards compassion, but it’s a lot harder to have on people who do stupid things.