“HELPLESS”

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Romans 3:23

Is it really harmless to believe that God helps those who help themselves? How does this statement measure up with what the Bible says?

Last week, we started a miniseries on the popular saying, “God helps those who help themselves.” While it sounds okay, it is found nowhere in the Bible.  Therefore, its concept is not inspired by God. In fact, we can even find it inconsistent with Scripture.

What Does the Bible Say?

Without God, we are completely helpless.

To begin with, we are all infected with sin, which is lawlessness and a violation of God’s righteous laws. Not one human being is exempted from this fallenness.

We think that some people are good and some are evil. But the accurate measurement of goodness is not ours, but God’s. It is God who gets to say what’s right and wrong, not us.

In today’s verse, the Apostle Paul explains the necessity of faith and gives a reminder that sin knows no race or nationality. All have sinned and failed to meet God’s standard of holiness and perfection. Sin is defined as “lawlessness,” a refusal to submit to God’s will. Not only is it doing what is wrong, but also failing to do what is proper. In other words, when we ignore our conscience and do something we are unsure of, we are sinning.

With that in mind, we are utterly helpless because all of us have sinned and continue to be deficient in righteousness. We can’t really help ourselves and leave the rest up to God. That’s backward thinking. In fact, Jesus tells us that apart from Him, we can do nothing. His statement applies not only to the Apostles but to us, too.

When we try to live independently of God’s guidance, we find ourselves in an endless cycle of hard work without necessarily achieving anything purposeful and eternally meaningful. Without God’s grace and favor, even our best effort will not be enough. That goes without saying we cannot save ourselves unless God intervenes and rescues us from our misery.

Have you accepted this truth?

Pursue the Savior today!