Whose faith?

1 Thessalonians 3:3
But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.

It seems to me that we, Christians, rely too much on our own abilities and forget all about the promises of God. Sadly, this is the truth. I hear Christians all the time talk about how they plan to work harder at being a better father, brother, mother, sister, uncle, worker, Bible reader, preacher, teacher, or whatever else, only to fail at their own resolutions.

Why do you suppose this is? I’m pretty sure it has something to do with the fact that when you resolve to do something, then you resolve to do it on your own. It’s a common misconception in Christianity that God helps those who help themselves. Well, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this isn’t in the Bible. In fact, the complete opposite is in the Bible. God helps those who have no chance of helping themselves.

Let’s take a look, shall we?

There’s Joseph. He didn’t have much of a chance to help himself. He was attacked by his brothers, sold into bondage, and made a slave in a foreign land. He couldn’t do anything to change his situation; he was on lockdown. But God changed it for him. God did all the work to make Joseph the second in command of all Egypt.

Then there’s the Israelites. They couldn’t get out of bondage in Egypt on their own. They couldn’t do anything to change their situation. They were weak slaves who were forced to work long hours with little nourishment at the hands of cruel task masters. They couldn’t fight back or revolt; they didn’t have the strength to “help themselves”. But God did! He brought 10 plagues. He parted the Red Sea. He provided bread, water, and meat for them in the wilderness.

What about the New Testament?

Well, there’s the guy at the pool of Bethesda. He was a paralytic. He couldn’t move. He tried to help himself, but to no avail. He was hopelessly laying right next to the pool that would bring him healing, yet he couldn’t get in. Did Jesus wait for him to try more, to work harder at flopping into the water? NO!! Jesus helped the man who couldn’t help himself.

What about Lazarus? Well, he was dead. How could he possibly help himself? He certainly couldn’t unravel the clothes around his body. He certainly couldn’t roll the stone away from his tomb. He certainly couldn’t stop the decay of his body. I don’t know if you were aware of this fact: Lazarus was DEAD! But Jesus could help him, and He did. He raised Lazarus from the dead and brought him back to life.

The point is this: God knows your struggles and your inabilities and He wants to demonstrate perfect faith to you by establishing you and protecting you. He knows that on your own you’re not capable of fulfilling even the simplest of your resolutions. He knows that tomorrow, after proclaiming today how you intend to change, you’ll be right back to where you were before. He knows the guilt that it will bring and the condemnation that you will suffer as a result of your inabilities to stand by your word. That is why He gave us Christ. That is why He did the work.

Reliance on God isn’t a 50/50 game we play; it’s a 100/0 game we live by. While God gives 100, we give 0. This is how He receives all of the glory. If even 1% of the success is gained by our own self effort, then God does not receive the full glory He is entitled to. Furthermore, if you choose to play the numbers with God, that is, you want to be a 50/50 Christian, then you become responsible for it all (Galatians 5:3).

Let’s live and walk by faith; not by our faith, but by God’s. He is faithful to establish us. He is faithful to protect us from evil. We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19) and we’re faithful to Him because He is first faithful to us!