It’s amazing to me, the number of self-help books on the shelf, or I guess I should say available for download, these days. They cover every topic under the sun, from dieting to finding your center to loving the child within. To look at them as a whole, you have no other option than to think that we, as humans, are a LOT of work.

I’ve been known to purchase some of these that are more health-related. I actually was recently in a book store (yes, I do still go into book stores on occasion, because I love them and enjoy the combination scent of books and coffee), to look for a particular book of healthy-eating recipes. As I was trying to find the diet section, I passed the rest of the self-help books and stopped to see what all was currently out there for public consumption. I was overwhelmed by the number of books on tapping our own inner power. Volumes of books on variations of this topic. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, now that I think about it. We are a society of individuals. I don’t mean that in a “Captain Obvious” way. Of course we are a society made up of individual people, but we are now living more and more individually. We’ve pulled ourselves away from everyone else to set ourselves apart, climb to the top, be all that we can be. We don’t need anyone else, so to whom should we turn for help except, well…ourselves?

I started digging around in my purse for my iPhone because I jot down snippets and quotes that strike me in my notes there. I remembered, as I saw this particular topic so well-represented, typing in a quote that I thought related, and I was right. I’d heard it in church, on Easter Sunday.

Overestimating yourself blinds you to your true need.

We are a generation raised on The Little Engine That Could. We were told we could do or be or handle anything. Not a terrible thing, but I, at least, think maybe we’ve gone too far with it. We’ve taken ourselves so far up the ladder of self-reliance and independence that we’ve forgotten we might need help getting down. We’ve forgotten that sometimes we can’t do or handle fill in the blank. If we put all our stock in ourselves, we will search, aimlessly, through a hundred million volumes to fix ourselves because we’ve forgotten that we don’t have all the answers and we need Someone bigger.

If you’re needing some help – real help – there is only one Book you need. It’s a best seller, translated in thousands of languages world-wide. The text is old but timeless, fresh and new and applicable to every generation. Don’t rely so heavily on yourself that you forget you have somewhere else to turn when things get hard. Thankfully, if you and I look beyond ourselves, we’ll find the Author of the best self-help Book on the planet…the Author and Perfecter of our faith.

“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.” Hebrews 4:12 NLT

“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.” John 5:30 ESV

“If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you.” James 1:5 NLT

“…looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2 ASV