I want to make it clear that in my post a few days ago--entitled "a chaotic cesspool"--I did not mean to advance the idea that God only helps those who help themselves. Such a proclamation is just as heretical as the idea that God helps everyone if only they have enough faith. The truth, with all things, generally lies somewhere in the middle. So let me clarify what I believe in regards to this.
Firstly, I do believe that God can and sometimes does directly intervene in such a way that a person's life is radically changed. Biblical examples are resplendent, and I'm familiar with people who have experienced this. One example is a fellow who lived a life of drunken sex, drug addiction, and alcoholism. One night he found himself stuck in a tree and lamenting his life, and he cried out to God for deliverance, and when he came down the tree he was truly a changed man. God had directly and miraculously intervened in this man's life to completely change him--permanently. Yet such examples, I think, are not the norm. And when this happens to someone, the person ought not be proud--"God helped me, I must be great!" God shows no favoritism, and when He directly intervenes in someone's life in a miraculous way, that is a reflection of God's love and wisdom and not of the status of the person helped.
Secondly, with the above in mind (along with the conviction that while God can and does miraculously intervene to change our lives, it is not the norm), I believe that a lot of times the power for change in our life lies in our hands. The classic example I have used is the extremely fat person who cries out to God to find someone who will want them romantically. The reality is, we don't want someone who is obese. We're not , generally speaking, physically attracted them. This could be called shallow, and I think sometimes it is. But at the same time, the human body is not designed to be such obese, and not being physically attracted to obese people is understandable. The fat person who wants a romantic relationship cries out to God for help. And maybe God will help them through a direct intervention. But I would bet money that the person must help themselves. That is, lose weight. Stack the cards in his or her favor. God has given us the wisdom to understand how relationships work, and God has given us the ability to become the type of people who are more able to experience such relationships. This is just one general example, but the principal remains the same: God has given us creativity, logic, and the ability to make change happen in our lives. And I think, more often than not, God wants us to utilize these elements to change our lives for the good.
People may say, "I'm just going to have faith and wait for God to help me." This speaks more to a diluted understanding of God as well as the laziness of the person. The truth is, we want a God who will bend at our every beck and call, and our twisted perceptions of God's love makes us think that this is how God really is. Never mind C.S. Lewis' observation that while God wants us to be happy, even more-so he wants us to grow up. To become fully-functioning citizens of His kingdom who utilize their talents and abilities to change their world. Believing in our minds and hearts that by serving God, God will serve us, is Osteen-esque and flawed. As well as showing a faulty understanding of God, I think it also speaks (as I've said) to the laziness of the person.
Changing our lives is difficult, especially when the changes are hard. It's much easier to sit on our asses and lament our states than to actually get off our asses and change them. A wise person once said, "We want the results of a changed life without putting the energy into changing our lives. And so we remain in our present states. It is not that we are hopeless. We're just lazy."
I do believe that God can and does intervene miraculously in peoples' lives to change things. But I believe that this is rarer than most people believe. I believe that oftentimes, God expects us to change our lives. He has endowed us with characteristics that make it possible to enact changes into our life. When our lives don't change despite our countless and tear-laced prayers, I think it's often not because we don't have enough faith or that God doesn't love us, but because we have a flawed perception of God and are, in the end, just downright lazy.
Firstly, I do believe that God can and sometimes does directly intervene in such a way that a person's life is radically changed. Biblical examples are resplendent, and I'm familiar with people who have experienced this. One example is a fellow who lived a life of drunken sex, drug addiction, and alcoholism. One night he found himself stuck in a tree and lamenting his life, and he cried out to God for deliverance, and when he came down the tree he was truly a changed man. God had directly and miraculously intervened in this man's life to completely change him--permanently. Yet such examples, I think, are not the norm. And when this happens to someone, the person ought not be proud--"God helped me, I must be great!" God shows no favoritism, and when He directly intervenes in someone's life in a miraculous way, that is a reflection of God's love and wisdom and not of the status of the person helped.
Secondly, with the above in mind (along with the conviction that while God can and does miraculously intervene to change our lives, it is not the norm), I believe that a lot of times the power for change in our life lies in our hands. The classic example I have used is the extremely fat person who cries out to God to find someone who will want them romantically. The reality is, we don't want someone who is obese. We're not , generally speaking, physically attracted them. This could be called shallow, and I think sometimes it is. But at the same time, the human body is not designed to be such obese, and not being physically attracted to obese people is understandable. The fat person who wants a romantic relationship cries out to God for help. And maybe God will help them through a direct intervention. But I would bet money that the person must help themselves. That is, lose weight. Stack the cards in his or her favor. God has given us the wisdom to understand how relationships work, and God has given us the ability to become the type of people who are more able to experience such relationships. This is just one general example, but the principal remains the same: God has given us creativity, logic, and the ability to make change happen in our lives. And I think, more often than not, God wants us to utilize these elements to change our lives for the good.
People may say, "I'm just going to have faith and wait for God to help me." This speaks more to a diluted understanding of God as well as the laziness of the person. The truth is, we want a God who will bend at our every beck and call, and our twisted perceptions of God's love makes us think that this is how God really is. Never mind C.S. Lewis' observation that while God wants us to be happy, even more-so he wants us to grow up. To become fully-functioning citizens of His kingdom who utilize their talents and abilities to change their world. Believing in our minds and hearts that by serving God, God will serve us, is Osteen-esque and flawed. As well as showing a faulty understanding of God, I think it also speaks (as I've said) to the laziness of the person.
Changing our lives is difficult, especially when the changes are hard. It's much easier to sit on our asses and lament our states than to actually get off our asses and change them. A wise person once said, "We want the results of a changed life without putting the energy into changing our lives. And so we remain in our present states. It is not that we are hopeless. We're just lazy."
I do believe that God can and does intervene miraculously in peoples' lives to change things. But I believe that this is rarer than most people believe. I believe that oftentimes, God expects us to change our lives. He has endowed us with characteristics that make it possible to enact changes into our life. When our lives don't change despite our countless and tear-laced prayers, I think it's often not because we don't have enough faith or that God doesn't love us, but because we have a flawed perception of God and are, in the end, just downright lazy.
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