Thursday February 2, 2017

 

I Can’t but He Can

 

No one should ever belittle you, no one should ever tell you what you can and cannot do, and no one should diminish your potential to do great things. Now, with that said, there are areas in our lives that we never seem to get a hold of, at least not consistently, no matter how hard we try. We have hurts that we cannot get over and these cause us to hurt others either intentionally or unintentionally. We have bad habits and addictions that no matter how hard we try, we simply cannot get rid of them, they cling to us and they will not let go. Furthermore, we have complexes so deeply woven into our lives that they cause us to overcompensate and hide our true identity thus limiting our growth and true potential.

 

What is interesting is, that there is no shortage of experts on the radio, television, in print media, churches, and all sorts of venues offering us relational, financial, and health solutions to our problems. All you need to do is to walk into any bookstore and you will see that the largest selection is in the “self-help” section. It seems like everyone has a formula to help us overcome our hurts, bad habits, and complexes. To clarify, I am not being critical of those who encourage us to be better, after all that is a big part of what I do as a Pastor. However, I also realize that there are things we simply cannot do on our own no matter how many chats we listen to, how many books we read, or no matter how hard we try. With the amount of information available to us to help in any and every area of our lives, we should have fewer problems in the world; instead we live in a very troubled world.

 

The more I think about it, the more senseless the phrase “self-help” becomes to me. If in fact we are able to help ourselves, then we do not need “help” to begin with. Self-help supposes that there is something that we can do on or own to solve our issues. However, the problem is, that no matter how much we have tried, we have not been able to become the person we know we should be. What I have discovered is that we need much more than self-help, we need help. Even the Apostle Paul, who wrote approximately one third of the New Testament, understood this dilemma. This is why he confessed: “The things I want to do, I do not do, and the things I do not want to do are precisely the ones I do. Who can help me, who will set me free from myself?” Fortunately, the Apostle Paul gives us the answer to his own question.

 

Philippians 4:13 NKJ

 

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

 

There are times when we need to surrender to Jesus. There are times when we must say, “I cannot do it but He can”. Sometimes, that means that we need to come to God and confess our hurts, bad habits, and complexes. Then there are other times when it means that we need to admit that our ways are not His ways and we need to adopt Jesus’ teachings on how we should conduct our lives, relationships, finances, and even our Spiritual and physical health.