Dangers of Self-Help Culture

Self + self = more self.

Self-love, self-hate, self-help — it’s all one in the same, because the root is the same: SELF.

In this episode, I talk about the dangers of self-help culture, which include: assuming that we are good enough as is, capitulating a society that is literally SELF-centered, and watering down/edifying the biblical God—if not ignoring Him altogether to opt out for the “higher self” narrative instead.

No matter how you spin it, self-help has one goal: self-actualization. Self-healing. A concept that sounds pretty to the ears, but ultimately defies Scripture. Self-help keeps our sights set on the mirror and whatever that reflection can finitely offer back to us, instead of on Jesus and our promised eternal salvation in Him.

The thing about striving for self-actualization/healing within this personal development movement is that we do genuinely go into it with the best intentions — to grow and be better people — but the intention remains self-motivated, rather than for the glory of God, which leads us to idolatry of the self, creating more need for the self and no room for the Lord.

With self-help culture, before you know it, you are so full of yourself that you don’t even realize how hungry you truly are for God.

The reason you HAVE the hunger to grow that led you to self-help is because God designed you to need Him (John 15:4-5). You are hungry because it is GOD who feeds you your daily bread — not affirmations in the mirror, or daily journals, or a routine, or mindset training, or manifestation, or whatever else self-help falsely promises as the “thing” to help you heal you.

So does this mean we should neglect our wellbeing? Absolutely not. It just means that we stop going within to find healing when that’s the same place we find our strife. The self cannot be both the problem and the solution—logically, it’s a fallacy. So instead, we focus on self-sacrifice over self-help: laying our life at the Lord’s feet and stop exalting the self & our efforts as if we ourselves are the god of our life.

Stop reaching for the best of life and instead receive the life in Christ. If you were good enough on your own, you would have “done it” by now — you need Him. Desperately. We all do.

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Referenced Scripture: John 1:19 Romans 3:23 Romans 3:10 Matthew 23:12 1 John 1:8-10 Matthew 16:25 Colossians 3:3 Proverbs 16:5 John 15:4-5 James 4:8 Romans 12:2 1 Peter 5:6 John 3:30 Luke 9:23 Philippians 2:3 Hebrews 12:2 Isaiah 41:10 Phillipians 4:7