Post by Cindy on Apr 20, 2015 13:11:09 GMT -5
A Biblical View of Self-Esteem; An Explanation of Key Verses
Definitions from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary:
Self-Esteem: Undo PRIDE in oneself (p. 1646)
Pride: Overhigh opinion of oneself; conceit (p. 1428)
Humility: Absence of PRIDE or self-assertion (p. 884)
The attached Bible verse explanations (New Testament and Old Testament) detail how God views us and how we should view ourselves.
Taken in proper context, the attached Biblical references clearly indicate that there is no Biblical basis for self-esteem, self-love, self-acceptance, self-confidence, self-forgiveness, self-assertion, "proper" self-image, self-actualization, or any of the other selfisms advocated by the worldly system of psychology.
The Bible's answer for our emotional "problems": turn from self to Christ (and His all-sufficient Word).
New Testament Verses
Matthew 22:36-40 -- Jesus gives two great commandments: (1) Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind; (2) Love your neighbor as yourself -- there is no third command to love yourself. Jesus is saying, "as you already love yourself" -- "as" is used in the same way in Eph 5:25,28,33, indicating a state of current existence, not a command. Jesus knows we already love ourselves and thereby commands us to love others with this same commitment.
Luke 10:25-37 -- Example given by Jesus to illustrate the "love neighbor as yourself" command, presents a story of self-sacrifice (not self-love) towards an object of hate (a Samaritan)!
Matthew 16:24,25 -- Deny self, i.e., say no to self; not told to self-affirm, self-gratify, or self-actualize.
Luke 9:23 -- Deny self, i.e., put self to death, daily; not told to self-affirm, self-gratify, or self-actualize.
Matthew 20:26,27 -- The great are the servants, not the ones served.
Matthew 23:11,12 -- The great are the servants; the humble will be exalted.
Luke 22:24-27 -- The servant is the greatest, not the proud.
Luke14:26 -- Cannot be a disciple of Jesus, unless deny even yourself.
2 Tim 3:2-5 -- "Lovers of Self" listed with other "detestable" sins such as slanderers, the treacherous, abusive, proud, conceited; therefore, high self-esteem/pride is a sin!
John 12:25 -- Lover of one's own life (self) will lose eternal life.
John 13:16,17 -- Humble service is a command.
John 15:5 -- Apart from God, i.e., lover of self vs. lover of God, you can do nothing.
1 Cor 1:18,19 -- Message of the cross (denial of self) is foolishness to those perishing (i.e., to the psychological self-worshipers).
1 Cor 4:3-5 -- Objective judgments are ours to make, but those regarding overall worth or esteem belong to the Lord.
1 Cor 13:2-- Self-esteem advocates teach we must be of value to ourselves in order to be able to love others, but God tells us that we are nothing, unless and until we love others.
1 Cor 13:4,5 -- Definitions of what love is not -- not envy, not boasting, not proud, and not self-seeking.
2 Cor 3:5 -- No competence in ourselves (no pride), but only from God.
2 Cor 5:15 -- Live for Christ, via humble service, not for yourself.
2 Cor 10:12,18 -- Look to Christ for comparison, not to yourself; i.e., no self-esteem gospel.
Eph 3:8; 1 Tim 1:15; Rom 7:24 -- Sounds as if Paul has a terrible self-esteem problem! Paul recognizes his rotten condition, to be resolved only through the gospel of the cross, which is a "humble servant" attitude.
Rom 12:3 -- Don't think of yourself too highly, but with sober judgment -- notice that Paul makes no mention of the possibility of one under-valuing himself.
Gal 6:3,4 -- Sober evaluation should be made not on the basis of how one is doing in comparison with others, but by comparing oneself with Scriptural standards, and of course, Scriptural standards stress humility and putting self to death (denial of self), not boosting one's self-esteem.
1 Cor 10:24 --Nobody should ever seek his own good, but the good of others.
Eph 5:21 -- Submit to others for Christ's sake: i.e., humble submission, not pride.
2 Cor 11:30 -- If boast in anything, boast in weakness!
Phil 2:3 -- Do not act out of self-concerns, but for others, and then in humility.
Heb 13:17 -- Submit to your spiritual leaders, not your self-desires.
1 Pet 5:5-7 -- Be humble toward others because God opposes the proud.
Col 3:12 -- Christians should clothe themselves in humility.
Eph 4:2 -- We are commanded to be completely humble and gentle.
James 4:10 -- Humility leads to esteem -- esteem from the Lord.
Luke 6:31 -- The golden rule: Jesus could confidently make this statement because He knew we already loved ourselves; i.e., if hating ourselves was our natural condition (as the "self-esteemers" tell us), then it would make us happy to be treated badly (as it would confirm our hateful feelings of ourselves), and Jesus would, thereby, be telling us to treat others with the same contempt and loathing that we desire for ourselves.
Luke 6:32 -- The fact that Jesus refers to "sinners" (i.e., enemies of God) as practicing the, "I'll love you if you love me first," philosophy, the self-esteem teaching that, "You have to love yourself before you are able to love others," must, thereby, also be rejected as being ungodly.
1 John 2:16,17 -- Man's "boasting of what he has and does" (i.e., self-esteem/pride) is not the will of God, but is "of the world."
Phil 2:5-8 -- One's "attitude should be the same as Christ Jesus" -- i.e., "made Himself nothing," "taking the form of a servant," "humbled Himself," "became obedient to death." In general, one should have an attitude of a humble servant-loving, self-sacrificing, compassionate, submissive, obedient, courageous, and holy -- i.e., no "selfisms" at all, only "otherisms"!
2 Cor 12:6,7 -- Even though Paul would have possibly been warranted in having a so-called "healthy" self-esteem, he refused to boast; God, also, didn't want Paul to have high self-esteem -- i.e., conceit.
Old Testament Verses
Gen 18:27 -- Abraham, a believer at this time, has a proper view of self before God -- "I am nothing but dust and ashes."
Exodus 3:11,12-- God didn't build up Moses' self-esteem, but only promised to be with him.
Judges 6:14-16 -- God didn't build up Gideon's self-esteem, but only promised to be with him.
Judges 7:2 -- God reduced Gideon's forces to such a ridiculously low level that they would have to exalt God, not self, when victory came.
Job 1:8 -- Job's true status, in which he could "rightfully" boast ("a man who fears God and shuns evil").
Job 25:5,6 -- God views man as a maggot and worm -- hardly a "high self-esteem" teaching.
Job 42:6 -- Proper attitude toward sin is self-despising and repentance.
Proverbs 22:4 -- Humility and fear of the Lord bring honor and life.
Proverbs 16:5, Proverbs 16:18, Proverbs 16:19 -- Pride leads to destruction; better to be lowly in spirit.
Proverbs 18:12 -- Downfall of man is pride; humility required for esteem and honor.
Deuteronomy 10:12 -- God requires a humble walk, and love and service to Him.
Deuteronomy 8:17,18 -- Everything comes from the Lord; therefore, have no pride.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 -- Have a God-centered orientation, not self-centered.
Micah 6:8 -- God requires a humble walk.
Psalm 62:9 -- On God's balance scale, man weighs less than nothing, i.e., negative weight or worth.
Ezekiel 6:9; Ezekiel 20:43; Ezekiel 36:31 -- Sin brings self-loathing in one's "own sight" (KJV) (i.e., self-image); therefore, a "proper" self-image in response to sin is a low one (i.e., low self-esteem), not self-acceptance or self-love.
Isaiah 41:24; Isaiah 2:22 -- What is man's truth worth -- "less than nothing;" "of no account."
Isaiah 47:8,10,11 -- Pride/high self-esteem leads to disaster and calamity.
Jeremiah 1:6-9 -- God didn't build up Jeremiah's self-esteem, but promised to be with him and put words in his mouth.
Psalm 115:1 -- Don't seek glory for self, but for the glory of the Lord.
Psalm 36:2 -- The man who flatters himself, i.e., high self-esteem, is unable to even detect his own sin, let alone hate it.
Psalm 34:18 -- The Lord works in the lives of the humble, not those with high self-esteem.
Psalm 51:17 -- True worship is with humility, not good self-image.
Psalm 101:5 -- God will not tolerate the proud; i.e., those with high self-esteem.
Isaiah 6:5 -- Faced with God's holiness, Isaiah debases self, not exalts self.
Proverbs 15:33 -- Humility before honor.
Proverbs 29:23 -- Pride, i.e., self-esteem, only lowers man, while humility gains honor.
Proverbs 6:16-19 -- Haughty eyes, i.e., a proud look, listed along with seven other sins that are detestable to the Lord.
Proverbs 8:13 -- The Lord hates pride.
Proverbs 11:2 -- With pride comes disgrace, while wisdom comes with humility.
Proverbs 13:10 -- Pride breeds quarrels.
Proverbs 21:4 -- Pride is a trait of the wicked, and is sin.
Proverbs 25:27 -- Not honorable to seek one's own honor.
1 Kings 3:5-9 -- Solomon's humble request was for discernment and wisdom (not high self-esteem), which God honored with wisdom and riches and God-esteem.
Proverbs 26:12 -- More hope for a fool than a man with high self-esteem, i.e., a man wise in his own eyes.
Proverbs 27:2 -- Don't praise yourself, i.e., high self-esteem, let others instead.
Proverbs 28:26 -- Those with good self-esteem are trusting in themselves, and therefore, are fools.
Psalm 31:23 -- The Lord will pay back the proud, in full.
Psalm 18:27 -- The Lord saves the humble, but brings low the proud.
Psalm 138:6 -- The Lord looks favorably on the humble, and unfavorably on the proud.
Job 40:4 -- Job recognizes he has no self-worth in God's sight.
Jeremiah 9:23,24 -- Don't let your attributes be the source of your glorifying, or you have chosen the wrong object for your boasting -- the object should be God! Whatever we have is from God, not of our own doing, so our boasts should be towards Him; praise the Lord, not self.
Jeremiah 17:7,8 -- A happy and worry-free man is one who places his confidence in the Lord, not in himself; i.e., no self-confidence teaching, but God-confidence instead!
Isaiah 66:2-- God-esteem (the only kind that counts) goes to the meek, humble, and God-fearing.
Psalm 139:13-15 -- The Psalmist uses God's wonderful creation (man) to exalt God (the Creator), not self (the creation).
link
I posted these in different articles, but they go here too:
I hear people who seem to think that upon becoming a Christian their lives should have suddenly gotten "better", that they shouldn't have to deal with the regular every day problems, and trials like they were before. So their "faith" weakens because they assume that Jesus isn't "doing anything". The false teachers that preach the prosperity gospel and the so called healing ministries that tell people that if you become a Christian that God will heal your body and mind and you won't have health problems anymore, only make this problem worse, because they're not only teaching lies, they're telling people that it's all about them, and it's not. It's about Him. When we become saved, we don't suddenly embark on a life of recreation and ease; a life of just happiness; no, when we sign up to be a Christian, we are signing up to be soldiers in a war! The last time I checked, most soldiers in a war zone, wouldn't consider their lives as lives of recreation and ease! .....
This is also very true of many people who live with pain, like me, or people who deal with chronic depression. (which many people who live with pain battle with as well.) The temptation is to make your life all about you, and as believers, we can not do that! It must be about God and about others! So often people don't seem to get that if they change their focus and put their focus on God instead of how miserable their lives are, and make an effort to help others in similar predicaments, that their own lives will actually improve too! As humans tainted with sin, it's practically beat into us by the world to focus on ourselves. You hear it all the time out in the world: "take care of yourself" "take care of #1" along with the nice sounding line that if you don't take care of yourself, that you can't help others. But with God it doesn't work that way. He never tells us to to take care of ourselves first. He says just the opposite. He says that we are to make Him number 1 in our lives and all others should be number 2, with ourselves coming in last. But, (back to the topic, lol) to hear these false teachers talk, it is about us, because that's what they focus on. That alone should throw up a great big red flag for anyone that's read their bibles, but for some reason it doesn't. Probably because we are so indoctrinated with the worldview that we should put ourselves first, so we just don't stop to think about it.....
I think that this was probably one of the biggest lessons I had to learn when I got saved, as it's so much the opposite of what the world teaches, and it pervades everything! Think about it: the biggest thing that pervades worldly thinking has to do with what the world calls "self esteem". That's the basis of where they get that doctrine of "take care of yourself, put yourself first" etc. That core teaching is the core of just about everything else taught in this world and it grabs Christians too without them even knowing it's wrong. They even try to use the bible to teach it. How many people do you know that honestly think that the bible says, "God helps those that help themselves"? The vast majority of people think that's in the bible! But it's not! The bible teaches the opposite of that! God's Word says that we are not to rely on ourselves, but rather that we are to rely on Him!
Definitions from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary:
Self-Esteem: Undo PRIDE in oneself (p. 1646)
Pride: Overhigh opinion of oneself; conceit (p. 1428)
Humility: Absence of PRIDE or self-assertion (p. 884)
The attached Bible verse explanations (New Testament and Old Testament) detail how God views us and how we should view ourselves.
Taken in proper context, the attached Biblical references clearly indicate that there is no Biblical basis for self-esteem, self-love, self-acceptance, self-confidence, self-forgiveness, self-assertion, "proper" self-image, self-actualization, or any of the other selfisms advocated by the worldly system of psychology.
The Bible's answer for our emotional "problems": turn from self to Christ (and His all-sufficient Word).
New Testament Verses
Matthew 22:36-40 -- Jesus gives two great commandments: (1) Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind; (2) Love your neighbor as yourself -- there is no third command to love yourself. Jesus is saying, "as you already love yourself" -- "as" is used in the same way in Eph 5:25,28,33, indicating a state of current existence, not a command. Jesus knows we already love ourselves and thereby commands us to love others with this same commitment.
Luke 10:25-37 -- Example given by Jesus to illustrate the "love neighbor as yourself" command, presents a story of self-sacrifice (not self-love) towards an object of hate (a Samaritan)!
Matthew 16:24,25 -- Deny self, i.e., say no to self; not told to self-affirm, self-gratify, or self-actualize.
Luke 9:23 -- Deny self, i.e., put self to death, daily; not told to self-affirm, self-gratify, or self-actualize.
Matthew 20:26,27 -- The great are the servants, not the ones served.
Matthew 23:11,12 -- The great are the servants; the humble will be exalted.
Luke 22:24-27 -- The servant is the greatest, not the proud.
Luke14:26 -- Cannot be a disciple of Jesus, unless deny even yourself.
2 Tim 3:2-5 -- "Lovers of Self" listed with other "detestable" sins such as slanderers, the treacherous, abusive, proud, conceited; therefore, high self-esteem/pride is a sin!
John 12:25 -- Lover of one's own life (self) will lose eternal life.
John 13:16,17 -- Humble service is a command.
John 15:5 -- Apart from God, i.e., lover of self vs. lover of God, you can do nothing.
1 Cor 1:18,19 -- Message of the cross (denial of self) is foolishness to those perishing (i.e., to the psychological self-worshipers).
1 Cor 4:3-5 -- Objective judgments are ours to make, but those regarding overall worth or esteem belong to the Lord.
1 Cor 13:2-- Self-esteem advocates teach we must be of value to ourselves in order to be able to love others, but God tells us that we are nothing, unless and until we love others.
1 Cor 13:4,5 -- Definitions of what love is not -- not envy, not boasting, not proud, and not self-seeking.
2 Cor 3:5 -- No competence in ourselves (no pride), but only from God.
2 Cor 5:15 -- Live for Christ, via humble service, not for yourself.
2 Cor 10:12,18 -- Look to Christ for comparison, not to yourself; i.e., no self-esteem gospel.
Eph 3:8; 1 Tim 1:15; Rom 7:24 -- Sounds as if Paul has a terrible self-esteem problem! Paul recognizes his rotten condition, to be resolved only through the gospel of the cross, which is a "humble servant" attitude.
Rom 12:3 -- Don't think of yourself too highly, but with sober judgment -- notice that Paul makes no mention of the possibility of one under-valuing himself.
Gal 6:3,4 -- Sober evaluation should be made not on the basis of how one is doing in comparison with others, but by comparing oneself with Scriptural standards, and of course, Scriptural standards stress humility and putting self to death (denial of self), not boosting one's self-esteem.
1 Cor 10:24 --Nobody should ever seek his own good, but the good of others.
Eph 5:21 -- Submit to others for Christ's sake: i.e., humble submission, not pride.
2 Cor 11:30 -- If boast in anything, boast in weakness!
Phil 2:3 -- Do not act out of self-concerns, but for others, and then in humility.
Heb 13:17 -- Submit to your spiritual leaders, not your self-desires.
1 Pet 5:5-7 -- Be humble toward others because God opposes the proud.
Col 3:12 -- Christians should clothe themselves in humility.
Eph 4:2 -- We are commanded to be completely humble and gentle.
James 4:10 -- Humility leads to esteem -- esteem from the Lord.
Luke 6:31 -- The golden rule: Jesus could confidently make this statement because He knew we already loved ourselves; i.e., if hating ourselves was our natural condition (as the "self-esteemers" tell us), then it would make us happy to be treated badly (as it would confirm our hateful feelings of ourselves), and Jesus would, thereby, be telling us to treat others with the same contempt and loathing that we desire for ourselves.
Luke 6:32 -- The fact that Jesus refers to "sinners" (i.e., enemies of God) as practicing the, "I'll love you if you love me first," philosophy, the self-esteem teaching that, "You have to love yourself before you are able to love others," must, thereby, also be rejected as being ungodly.
1 John 2:16,17 -- Man's "boasting of what he has and does" (i.e., self-esteem/pride) is not the will of God, but is "of the world."
Phil 2:5-8 -- One's "attitude should be the same as Christ Jesus" -- i.e., "made Himself nothing," "taking the form of a servant," "humbled Himself," "became obedient to death." In general, one should have an attitude of a humble servant-loving, self-sacrificing, compassionate, submissive, obedient, courageous, and holy -- i.e., no "selfisms" at all, only "otherisms"!
2 Cor 12:6,7 -- Even though Paul would have possibly been warranted in having a so-called "healthy" self-esteem, he refused to boast; God, also, didn't want Paul to have high self-esteem -- i.e., conceit.
Old Testament Verses
Gen 18:27 -- Abraham, a believer at this time, has a proper view of self before God -- "I am nothing but dust and ashes."
Exodus 3:11,12-- God didn't build up Moses' self-esteem, but only promised to be with him.
Judges 6:14-16 -- God didn't build up Gideon's self-esteem, but only promised to be with him.
Judges 7:2 -- God reduced Gideon's forces to such a ridiculously low level that they would have to exalt God, not self, when victory came.
Job 1:8 -- Job's true status, in which he could "rightfully" boast ("a man who fears God and shuns evil").
Job 25:5,6 -- God views man as a maggot and worm -- hardly a "high self-esteem" teaching.
Job 42:6 -- Proper attitude toward sin is self-despising and repentance.
Proverbs 22:4 -- Humility and fear of the Lord bring honor and life.
Proverbs 16:5, Proverbs 16:18, Proverbs 16:19 -- Pride leads to destruction; better to be lowly in spirit.
Proverbs 18:12 -- Downfall of man is pride; humility required for esteem and honor.
Deuteronomy 10:12 -- God requires a humble walk, and love and service to Him.
Deuteronomy 8:17,18 -- Everything comes from the Lord; therefore, have no pride.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 -- Have a God-centered orientation, not self-centered.
Micah 6:8 -- God requires a humble walk.
Psalm 62:9 -- On God's balance scale, man weighs less than nothing, i.e., negative weight or worth.
Ezekiel 6:9; Ezekiel 20:43; Ezekiel 36:31 -- Sin brings self-loathing in one's "own sight" (KJV) (i.e., self-image); therefore, a "proper" self-image in response to sin is a low one (i.e., low self-esteem), not self-acceptance or self-love.
Isaiah 41:24; Isaiah 2:22 -- What is man's truth worth -- "less than nothing;" "of no account."
Isaiah 47:8,10,11 -- Pride/high self-esteem leads to disaster and calamity.
Jeremiah 1:6-9 -- God didn't build up Jeremiah's self-esteem, but promised to be with him and put words in his mouth.
Psalm 115:1 -- Don't seek glory for self, but for the glory of the Lord.
Psalm 36:2 -- The man who flatters himself, i.e., high self-esteem, is unable to even detect his own sin, let alone hate it.
Psalm 34:18 -- The Lord works in the lives of the humble, not those with high self-esteem.
Psalm 51:17 -- True worship is with humility, not good self-image.
Psalm 101:5 -- God will not tolerate the proud; i.e., those with high self-esteem.
Isaiah 6:5 -- Faced with God's holiness, Isaiah debases self, not exalts self.
Proverbs 15:33 -- Humility before honor.
Proverbs 29:23 -- Pride, i.e., self-esteem, only lowers man, while humility gains honor.
Proverbs 6:16-19 -- Haughty eyes, i.e., a proud look, listed along with seven other sins that are detestable to the Lord.
Proverbs 8:13 -- The Lord hates pride.
Proverbs 11:2 -- With pride comes disgrace, while wisdom comes with humility.
Proverbs 13:10 -- Pride breeds quarrels.
Proverbs 21:4 -- Pride is a trait of the wicked, and is sin.
Proverbs 25:27 -- Not honorable to seek one's own honor.
1 Kings 3:5-9 -- Solomon's humble request was for discernment and wisdom (not high self-esteem), which God honored with wisdom and riches and God-esteem.
Proverbs 26:12 -- More hope for a fool than a man with high self-esteem, i.e., a man wise in his own eyes.
Proverbs 27:2 -- Don't praise yourself, i.e., high self-esteem, let others instead.
Proverbs 28:26 -- Those with good self-esteem are trusting in themselves, and therefore, are fools.
Psalm 31:23 -- The Lord will pay back the proud, in full.
Psalm 18:27 -- The Lord saves the humble, but brings low the proud.
Psalm 138:6 -- The Lord looks favorably on the humble, and unfavorably on the proud.
Job 40:4 -- Job recognizes he has no self-worth in God's sight.
Jeremiah 9:23,24 -- Don't let your attributes be the source of your glorifying, or you have chosen the wrong object for your boasting -- the object should be God! Whatever we have is from God, not of our own doing, so our boasts should be towards Him; praise the Lord, not self.
Jeremiah 17:7,8 -- A happy and worry-free man is one who places his confidence in the Lord, not in himself; i.e., no self-confidence teaching, but God-confidence instead!
Isaiah 66:2-- God-esteem (the only kind that counts) goes to the meek, humble, and God-fearing.
Psalm 139:13-15 -- The Psalmist uses God's wonderful creation (man) to exalt God (the Creator), not self (the creation).
link
I posted these in different articles, but they go here too:
I hear people who seem to think that upon becoming a Christian their lives should have suddenly gotten "better", that they shouldn't have to deal with the regular every day problems, and trials like they were before. So their "faith" weakens because they assume that Jesus isn't "doing anything". The false teachers that preach the prosperity gospel and the so called healing ministries that tell people that if you become a Christian that God will heal your body and mind and you won't have health problems anymore, only make this problem worse, because they're not only teaching lies, they're telling people that it's all about them, and it's not. It's about Him. When we become saved, we don't suddenly embark on a life of recreation and ease; a life of just happiness; no, when we sign up to be a Christian, we are signing up to be soldiers in a war! The last time I checked, most soldiers in a war zone, wouldn't consider their lives as lives of recreation and ease! .....
This is also very true of many people who live with pain, like me, or people who deal with chronic depression. (which many people who live with pain battle with as well.) The temptation is to make your life all about you, and as believers, we can not do that! It must be about God and about others! So often people don't seem to get that if they change their focus and put their focus on God instead of how miserable their lives are, and make an effort to help others in similar predicaments, that their own lives will actually improve too! As humans tainted with sin, it's practically beat into us by the world to focus on ourselves. You hear it all the time out in the world: "take care of yourself" "take care of #1" along with the nice sounding line that if you don't take care of yourself, that you can't help others. But with God it doesn't work that way. He never tells us to to take care of ourselves first. He says just the opposite. He says that we are to make Him number 1 in our lives and all others should be number 2, with ourselves coming in last. But, (back to the topic, lol) to hear these false teachers talk, it is about us, because that's what they focus on. That alone should throw up a great big red flag for anyone that's read their bibles, but for some reason it doesn't. Probably because we are so indoctrinated with the worldview that we should put ourselves first, so we just don't stop to think about it.....
I think that this was probably one of the biggest lessons I had to learn when I got saved, as it's so much the opposite of what the world teaches, and it pervades everything! Think about it: the biggest thing that pervades worldly thinking has to do with what the world calls "self esteem". That's the basis of where they get that doctrine of "take care of yourself, put yourself first" etc. That core teaching is the core of just about everything else taught in this world and it grabs Christians too without them even knowing it's wrong. They even try to use the bible to teach it. How many people do you know that honestly think that the bible says, "God helps those that help themselves"? The vast majority of people think that's in the bible! But it's not! The bible teaches the opposite of that! God's Word says that we are not to rely on ourselves, but rather that we are to rely on Him!
!!
