“God helps those who help themselves” that an old saying we all have heard in our lifetime. I know I have heard it a million times and I know I will hear it a million more before I die. The saying is not in the bible, but it is a wise saying none-the-less.
I think that saying needs to be spoken a little more often in these tough economic times. I think we all need to be reminded that “there is no such thing as a free lunch”, another great old saying.
There is wisdom in the sayings of old, why is that? What makes the saying from the past so much wiser than the sayings of today. I think some of it is the poetry if the sayings, they seemed to have a smother way of talking back in the day. But more than that, I think the mind-set was different, A Thomas Jefferson thinks differently than a Barack Obama. But still we did have Ronald Reagan and his poetic speak, he had the ability to make the words flow. Some will argue that Obama does the same, and yes Obama does make the words flow, the problem is they are empty words, so they do not stick. Reagan had the ability to make them stick, as did Jefferson or other statesmen of old.
The bible is full of such phrases, “Due unto others as you would have done unto you” is just one such example. Wise sayings that stand the test of time. Hope and Change or Change we can believe in are marketing gimmicks not thoughtful and insightful sayings. Coke-a-Cola has come up with better, such as “Have a Coke and a Smile” or for Detroiter from years gone by we all remember the Fago song.
As I talk to my family and friends, read the news or listen to talk radio I am always shocked when I hear someone say they expect the government to take care of them, that Obama needs to provide or the state should do this or that. No sense of personal responsibility, no concept of “God helps those who help themselves”.
We have or are becoming a nation of dependents, we are depending on others to care for ourselves. We are looking outside of our community, family and friends, for the handout rather than the handup. Back in the “good ol’ days” people depended on each other, their family and friends, to help them out. They did not look to the government for help, but rather to they more often than not looked within. That is the difference between an Obama and a Reagan. Reagan came from an era of self reliance, Obama from one of greater reliance on government.
The bible speaks of self-reliance and community, such as family and friends. JFK spoke of the same thing when he said “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”. But in today’s world of give me, provide for me and you owe me, we have become a nation that is increasingly asking our government what it can do for us. The Healthcare or ObamaCare if you will, is the latest example of this you owe me mindset. I have heard or read countless statements of “Obama is giving me FREE healthcare. Point on “Their is no such thing as a free Lunch”, Free healthcare is a myth, we, the American people pay for it daily with our taxies. Point two, show me were in the Bill of Right or the Constitution are we guaranteed healthcare. For that matter show me were in the bible it states that the government must provide for my well being. They don’t!
The Constitution states I have a right to pursue happiness, the bill of rights protects my God given rights to vote and so forth and the bible states “What ever you d to the least of my brothers, you do on to me” or if you don’t like that one how about “Am I my brothers keeper?” (meaning we are, as individuals, not as governments).
God did not make us to be dependent but rather to be dependable. Big difference between the two words, one causes us to rely on others for all the other causes us to rely on God and self. To be dependable means to be self-relent, to look to God for direction and to offer ourselves to others in service. To be dependent means to take and not give to look for handouts and freebies to live a life as a slave to others.
There is a difference between serventhood and slavery, one is given the other is taken. To be dependent is to have your free will taken into slavery, to be dependable is to offer freely your servanthood to others.
Jesus was dependable Judas was dependent. Judas was depending upon Jesus to release him, to free him for the captivity of the Romans. Jesus was offering freedom, but He was not going to do all the work for you. Our freedom, our release from sin, our dependence upon sin was not going to be magically removed by anyone. Jesus offered us the truth, light and way to freedom, but He wanted us to make the effort, He wanted us to be dependable. Judas wanted a Handout and Jesus offered Him a Handup.
Jesus had a wise saying, one we all need to remember, “Truly Truly I tell you, it is easer for a camel to enter the eye of a needle than a rich man the gates of Heaven”
You maybe asking what that has to do with this, Jesus is talking about Heaven. True He is, but more specifically He is talking about how to enter Heaven. Ok, so now you are saying, yes He is talking about rich people and how they act, not slave/serventhood.
Well… Now, I’m not to sure about that. Jesus was talking about all our actions, using the rich man as an example. Jesus was not saying rich men cannot make it to heaven, nor was he saying rich men have a harder time. He was saying that we have to work for it, that it is not easy. The example refers to a gate to enter Jerusalem. This gate was narrow and small, and a camel had to work at it to enter it. The gate was called they eye of a needle. The rich man would not use this gate, he would walk through the big gate, an easy entrance in to Jerusalem. Basically Jesus was saying that the easy way is not always the best way. that sometimes you had to work at it. Judas wanted the easy revolution, the earthly kind, but Jesus was offering him a spiritual revolution, a harder gate to enter.
We have a lot to learn from these great old sayings. Wisdom can be found in them all.
God Bless
Paul
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