Who can expect to receive help from God? A common saying states that “God helps those who help themselves!” The authority with which this assertion is made sounds as if these words are taken straight from the Bible. But is it really a true and biblical statement?
If we look at Scripture, we find that our “can-do” attitude does not earn us any brownie points with God. Contrary to what our self-sufficiency assumes—God came to our aid precisely when we could not help ourselves!
“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly,” and “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6, 8) I love how the Message Bible states these truths:
“He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway.”
This is why the gospel is Good News! God does not wait for us to straighten ourselves out before he comes near us and helps us. No, he helps us while we are helpless! It is our pride or unbelief that requires us to shape up first. God’s help is free to those who receive it in simple trust. (It does not came cheap however, in the act of saving our life, Jesus had to give his) Once we have followed Jesus to the Cross, where he died for us, and we have experienced the release from the prison of our sinful nature, we are enabled and commanded to do good works, to help others and ourselves. In our now unshackled state we can respond to what God has done. We lay aside evil ways and put on new characteristics with Him empowering us to “put off” and “put on.”
This is what God’s grace is all about—we get what we don’t deserve. This is the wonderful, hopeful message of the gospel. The popular Irish Rock band U2 gives us a powerful description of what grace is:
“She takes the blame, she covers the shame, removes the stain. It’s the name of a girl; it’s also a thought that changed the world.”
Leave a Reply