Self-Help Movement

There are two distinct movements within the Christian Church that lead us in the wrong direction with respect to worship. One is the “prosperity gospel” which makes us believe that if we come to church and lead a good Christian life, God will prosper us financially. The second movement, and the one that we are going to focus on today is the “self-help movement.” This ideology convinces us that the church exists to help us life a better life.

While there are aspects of both of these ideologies that are true, they both place the focal point of our attention in the wrong place - ourselves. I’ll be the first to say that I have been guilty at times of falling into both of these lines of thinking. None of us are immune because we have grown up in and live in a “rewards based” society. As a result, the prosperity gospel is easy for us to believe - God give us rewards us for good behavior.

Self-help theology is particularly enticing in our current self-fulfillment culture. This is a culture that makes us believe that the purpose of life revolves around ourselves and finding fulfillment in this life. The idea of becoming a better person makes perfect sense so, how might we ask, could that be a bad thing? Well, it really isn’t a bad thing but it can’t become the main thing.

As a self-professed enneagram “1 Wing 9” (thanks Emily!) my whole life is a big self-improvement journey. I am enticed with self-help theology at times because it hits me right where I am wired - trying to live a better life. Earlier this week a friend from my Bible study sent this quote out to our group and it became the inspiration for this blog:

Our problem in following Jesus is that we are trying to become a better version of ourselves rather than a more accurate reflection of Him.

Wow. This one statement just got right to the heart of the issue. Anytime our theology involves a focus that is on ourselves, we have drifted off course. Our focus has to be on Christ and becoming more like him. We are called to imitate Christ and the only way that we can do that is if we know Him personally and study His word in order to know the behavior that we should be imitating.

Ephesians 5:1-2 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

The bottom line as it relates to “self-help” is this - If we merely aim to become a better version of ourselves, we may not necessarily grow in Christlikeness. However, if our focus is on becoming more like Christ, it will automatically produce a better version of ourselves. This way - we get it all.

Stay hungry,

Big E