Watch the video below by Steve McVey, Christian Religion Lie #77 “You Should Do Better” and my comments follow…
You hear this all the time. So much so that it almost sounds normal.
In fact, you probably hear a voice inside your head saying this to yourself…
“You need to do better” at…
- reading your Bible
- praying every day
- having a “quiet time”
- being more nice to people…
- being a good person…
- and tons more!
The truth is: you can’t do better.
YOU were not designed to do better. You were designed to live out of the source, the empowerment of everything, the LIFE of Christ…
Why is this lie bad?
All it leads to is:
- Failure at doing better…
- Condemnation (feel bad for failing)…
- And Rededication to do better…
- Then it starts back at step 1!
I’m sure you’ve realized this pattern in your Christian life right? You want to do better, you want to be a “better Christian” a “better person” so you dedicate yourself to doing this.
Then you fail at it and feel guilty, ashamed, like you’re not enough, like somethings “broken” with you because you can’t see why you can’t do it.
So what’s the answer?
“Try harder!” you assume (it works for self improvement, why not Christian living?) and you rededicate yourself to doing better… then the cycle repeats.
It’s exhausting and never ending. And the worse part is you’re doomed to failure!
You can’t do better. Trust in Christ to do it.
Instead realize apart from Christ you can do nothing (John 15:1-8), and trust in Him to live through you–which will automatically change your actions and make your behavior “better”.
But your focus shouldn’t even be on “doing better”. Your focus should be on your relationship to Christ. This is what is pleasing to God and what makes living a Great Christian life easy.
Trust me, your behavior will automatically fall in line with what is “good”.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Christian 02.17.09 at 1:03 am
This is all starting to sound very new-age. We should not feel condemned, however we should (rightly so) feel convicted when we aren’t putting the attention on God – through all those things you mentioned. Prayer, reading the bible, etc. Aren’t these Spiritual Disciplines that should be practiced? And no, discipline is not to be confused with legalism as Steve McVey claims.
calebo 09.08.09 at 3:49 pm
@ Christian: No conviction, condemnation … all useless emotions … you should feel loved, and Love God back only because He first loved you
Love,
CAleb