Thursday, May 31, 2012

Conventional 'wisdom'

Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings (Hebrews 13:9).

There’s a lot of advice out in the world—some of it is even good advice.  But many things that you’ve heard don’t come from God, or they twist His words to mean something different.

God helps those who help themselves.  This advice urges us to not be passive or lazy, waiting for God to take care of our problems; when something needs to happen we should get on it, confident that the Lord will bless our efforts and give us His aid.  But these words are not from the Bible, and you should be cautious in applying them.  Our thoughts are corrupted by sin, with the result that much of the time our priorities are out of whack and our goals are not pleasing to God.  The LORD is not going to bless any project that is headed in the wrong direction.  Before getting started, you’re better off taking the time to examine your goals in light of God’s expectations for our lives as His children, and spend considerable time in prayer humbly asking for His guidance.  A better adage would be, God helps those who seek to do His will.

He who hesitates is lost.  This advice urges us to not let golden opportunities slip away because we are too timid to take a chance and go for it.  Again, these words do not come from the Bible and you should be cautious acting on them.  It’s true—sometimes opportunities come and go with little notice, and procrastination can be your downfall.  But more often than not, hasty decisions don’t turn out well.  This is because our first inclination is usually motivated by sinful desire.  We want a fast and easy solution to a problem.  We want to satisfy a craving or desire without having to worry about the consequences.  When a great opportunity presents itself, the first thing you should do is pray for wisdom and enough time to make a good decision.  Any decision made without prayer is extremely risky, because you are relying solely on yourself to get it right. 

Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you die.  This advice urges us to stop worrying and enjoy the moment.  These words are from the Bible, but they should not be taken as advice—they were given as an illustration of foolish thinking!  God gives us many things to enjoy, but they should never distract us from the eternal life that Jesus died to offer us.  God wants us to be happy, but good times should never become the focus of our lives.

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