Sunday Schoolisms Plus #23: The Second Half Truth

Another half truth from Adam Hamilton’s book Half Truths. These are direct quotes from Mr. Hamilton’s book and represent only the tip of the iceberg. If they speak to you, please buy and enjoy the book in depth.

God Helps Those Who Help Themselves

  “We can pray and pray, but we also have to do some work in the process. God blesses us with brains, strength, and wisdom.” “All these are God’s gifts to us, but it is up to us to use them. So we pray-and we work.”  (Read 2 Thessalonians 3 10:12)

“We don’t sit around waiting for God to miraculously right the wrongs in society. As Scripture reveals over and over again, God works through people. We are the instruments God uses to change the world.”

“Now, however, I’d like to suggest two important senses in which the saying is fundamentally unbiblical. First, this phrase is sometimes used as a way of avoiding our obligation as Christians to help others, of doing our part to love our neighbors.”

 “In the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25) and the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10), Jesus tells us that God judges us not only by our faith, but by whether our faith led us to a greater compassion for the poor and needy.”

“There is a second sense in which, thankfully, the idea that God helps those who help themselves does not capture the truth of the Bible. Sometimes we can’t help ourselves, not because we are poor or destitute or without resources but because we have descended too deeply into sin or despair.”

 “Thanks be to God who helps those who work and pray. And, even more, thanks be to God who helps those (like all of us, sometimes) who cannot help themselves.”