According to the Boston Globe, some $549 million a year is spent on self-help books in America, with diet books pulling in the most money. The parking lot at my gym is filled with cars in January, not so much in February. March? We’ll see. Sure, we want to be better physically, mentally, socially. Take the Briggs Myers personality test and figure out who you are. Therapists can help unearth issues that plague your relationships. Join a health club, read a self help book, do Yoga. Now what?
“A fool has no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself” (Proverbs 18:2) Self discovery will take us part of the way up the hill of our life. But to live life fully, to live life as we were meant to live, we need more. We need not only our mind and body at peak performance. We need that empty place in our heart filled. That dark place where only God’s light can penetrate.
Solomon wrote ” The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10) Isn’t it ironic that the farther we get from our self-absorbed life, the more we reach out to others, the happier we become? And isn’t it clear that when we stay close to our Creator, we, almost by default, become more selfless, wanting to help others? Isn’t it odd that some, not all, but some of the most successful people with adoring fans are so incredibly miserable? To find who we are, who we were designed to be, who we were created to be, we must maintain a daily connection with our designer. “We are HIS people and the sheep of HIS pasture.” (Psalms 100:3) “He has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world”(Ephesians 1:4)
When we surrender our life and our will to Christ, that is when we truly find ourselves, the man, the woman that God created us to be.
