Jesus Never Said... God Helps Those Who Helps Themselves

“God helps those who help themselves.”

It’s another common phrases people associate with the Bible, but Jesus never actually said it.

In this episode of “Jesus Never Said…”, we discuss the difference between self-sufficiency and dependence on God.

We also explore how modern culture pushes people toward self-reliance while Scripture continually points us toward grace, humility, and trust in God.

The reality is:
 👉 Jesus never taught people to depend on themselves.
 👉 He taught people to follow Him.

We'd love to hear from you -- email us at ListenToShoesOff@gmail.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Shoes Off, a weekly podcast where we pause, take off what weighs us down, and take a step onto holy ground.

SPEAKER_02 0:10

A common phrase I've heard my entire life is God helps those who help themselves. And people say it in tough situations, they say it about their work ethic, maybe about finances, but even in church conversations, I've heard this. And for a long time, I just assumed it was somewhere in the Bible.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Yeah, I mean it's something that we hear so often, but actually when you look into scripture, Jesus actually consistently moved towards people who actually could not help themselves.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

And today we're talking about another saying connected to Christianity, and it's the saying, God helps those who help themselves. And you've probably heard this before, and maybe you've even said it before. It's a famous proverb that I think it champions personal initiative and self-reliance, which on the surface you might think it's okay, but never let us get to a point where we're not relying on God.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

This phrase in itself, it did not come from Jesus or the Bible. I mean, you even said right there proverb, and some of you have been like, Oh, yeah, this is in Proverbs. No, it's not. According to a couple different sources, those that are familiar with Got Questions, or maybe Ford and Christ, these phrases actually trace back to a very ancient secular philosophy. It was later popularized by Benjamin Franklin, who most people do know, especially U.S. history. And he wrote about it in Poor Richard's almanac, and that's kind of where this phrase became popular at.

SPEAKER_02 1:40

And we see it in Aesop's Fables, and actually one of the phrases is the gods help those who help themselves. And it was kind of like a fictional type thing. And honestly, while responsibility and hard work matter, and I think this phrase maybe speaks to that, but it can quietly push people towards self-sufficiency, pride, and independence from God instead of depending on him.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

And it's important as we go into kind of the meat here, that we do talk about that it it's not a bad thing for us to work on ourselves or to help ourselves. But what we're trying to get the point across today is that Jesus never taught us to work on ourselves before we can depend on him, right? Or before we can go to him. And that's really what we want to talk about is that Jesus taught a dependency on him, not a self-sufficiency. And I think that's where this phrase can sometimes lead people's mind to and make them think. So we'll look at a couple different places, but let's look here in John chapter 15, just verse 5. He says, This is Jesus, I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

In Proverbs chapter 3, verses 5 and 6 says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding in all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make straight your path. So when you look at these teachings of Jesus, he constantly taught on the dependence of God. As you read in John chapter 15, verse 5, Jesus says, Apart from me, you can do nothing. And the opposite of that is you've got this on your own.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

Right. And and I think that's what people have the understanding of is like, you know what, I have this thing. I don't need to depend on anybody else. I can do that. And I think that's a thing that's being taught today in this kind of at least in my generation, is that like you need to go be the person. Like you don't need your family, you don't need your friends, like you need to figure out you, and you can do everything by yourself. And that's just not the truth. We definitely don't see that. And and what we just see there in John chapter 15 is exactly you said, apart from me, you can do nothing. That that's really what Jesus is saying. I'm the actual vine, and you're the branches, I'm giving you the nourishment, I'm given everything that you need in order for those things to happen. And then we go back into the Old Testament and we look at what we just read there in Proverbs, and it tells us to trust in the Lord with all of our heart and to lean not on our own understanding. And what it's not telling us to do is rely completely on yourself. And again, that's where we're trying to get. It's not self-sufficiency. You can't rely on yourself. If you rely on yourself, it just becomes so much, and that pressure gets so heavy and it feels crushing in it. And that's why Jesus was very often, give me everything that you have. My burden is very light.

SPEAKER_02 4:22

And I think it's a good segue into our first point is the gospel itself begins with our inability. And the scripture reference here, and again, if you're following along or taking notes, Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9, it says, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. And honestly, here's the entire gospel begins with admitting I cannot save myself.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

This is the key to everything. And honestly, I think this is something that's very difficult for a lot of people. It's for us to understand that salvation is by grace and by grace alone. Yeah, it is not by our own self-improvement, it's not by our own performance, it's not by earning God's approval. Uh, I mean, Paul says that we've all come short of the glory of God and everything, and we we don't have that ability. Our approval from God comes from the work that his son did on the cross, and it's really important for us to look at that. And Kurt Williams makes this point really well, and he says that Christianity starts with dependence, not with self-sufficiency. And that's really that's exactly what we're kind of going with today.

SPEAKER_02 5:31

And Isaac, I think we live in a culture today that celebrates self-made people. I mean, would you agree? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Culture seems to, and we've talked about this before, culture seems to praise independence, self-made success, and I don't need nobody. And again, maybe it all of that in itself, maybe at times is okay, but when you take it beyond like you did it yourself, and there's no dependence on God, I think that's where you start crossing the line.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Right. Is where do those things come from? And right, you know, every good gift comes from above. That was what we're told that that is a biblical principle right there. But you when you look at this ideology of what we're talking about with self-sufficiency, and like I don't need anybody, and I'm a self-made six when you look at that, and especially when you look at that spiritually, the self-sufficiency at that point, it it becomes pride. And that Dan Diamond points out this that many people are really uncomfortable admitting weaknesses because modern culture treats dependence like it's a failure. Yeah, it's a and I mean you probably have experience with this, and I can think of it too, is that like you're afraid to go and ask somebody for help or like I can do this on my own, I don't need help from anybody else. Yeah, we because we see that exactly like I just said there with the Dan Diamond quote, is that we see that as oh, if we can't do it, we've failed ourselves. Yeah, we're not able to do that. And it it may even be more than just kind of a thing on ourself, struggling to your spouse or with a friend or in any other relationship that like when you feel like you need outside help from something that feels like that you've had a failure and various things. So I think it it's good for us to think personally about that as well, as we've been talking about, but also kind of in a group setting as well.

SPEAKER_02 7:06

Yeah, and I think I've fallen to the trap even as a parent before. When your kids ask you when they get to a certain age and they ask you for money, you're like, no, go get a job yourself. Like you're gonna help yourself before I help you. I mean, maybe that's sometimes, but I again I think if we think in the terms of God's reliance, I God has always been there for people that show humility, and God often meets people in weakness. And there's a scripture that we're gonna reference around this point in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 9. The Bible says, But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. And that I think that's one thing that stood out. And you mentioned Kurt Williams' article, how often God works through our weakness, not around our weakness. And Paul here was praying for his struggle to be removed, and God responded, My grace is sufficient for you.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

Yeah, and that's huge because weakness, like we've been saying, weakness isn't always failure spiritually, and sometimes, and I think very most often that our weaknesses actually create a dependence, and it's what do we put that dependence on? And what we're saying here is the only dependence we can have is in Christ, which kind of leads us to this next thing that Jesus was drawn to people who knew that they needed him. And if we look here in Luke chapter 18, verses 9 through 14, this is just a little bit longer, but he says, He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus, God, I thank you that I am not like the other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get, but the tax collector standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to the house justified rather than the other, for everyone who exalts him will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

SPEAKER_02 9:16

I mean, that's some powerful scripture. Yeah, absolutely. When you look at Jesus' ministry, I mean, he was constantly moving towards people that were broken, he was moving towards people that were desperate, that humbled themselves before God. It wasn't the people that pretended they had it all together.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Yeah, I mean, in this, the Pharisee trusted himself. He trusted that everything that he was doing was exactly what was correct. But on the other side, you have the tax collector that's crying out for mercy. And Jesus says one of them went home justified and the other person didn't. And we talked about this article earlier, but in Forward and Christ, it highlights this tension really well that the Bible consistently points people towards humility and a dependence on God, not on self-reliance.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

And speaking about self-reliance, the other key point here is that there's a danger with the phrase, I got this. Christianity. And honestly, Christians easily can drift into this mindset too when without realizing it, we start living like I can handle this myself.

SPEAKER_01 10:21

And over time, that that has a relationship impact between us and God, and that's gonna cause our prayer to decrease. It's gonna cause our dependence on him to decrease, and it's gonna cause our surrendering things to him to decrease because deep down people start believing that they are actually the ones in control. The more they say, I got this, they believe that they are in control of the situation and not God.

SPEAKER_02 10:44

One thing when we researched an article pointed out was it emphasizes scripture repeatedly shows God helping the weak, the needy, the broken. And these were people that again weren't pretending they were self-sufficient, they were needing God in every day of their lives.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

Yeah, and honestly, that's really where the heart of grace is. God doesn't wait for people to become perfect beings before helping them. And I think that's a very important thing. And if anyone's listening here today and you don't know the Lord as your savior, I I want to say this to you because I think this is something that is people have a misconception of is I have to fix myself before I can come to Christ. I have to give up this sin, or I know that like I won't be accepted if I'm still doing this or if I'm doing this or whatever it is, as and and that's not what Jesus does. Jesus wants you to come as you are, he wants you to surrender things to him, and he's gonna work on you and he's gonna help craft you, but you first have to put that dependence and surrender into him first. And again, if there's anything that you hear from us today, it is God is not waiting for you to become perfect before helping you. God wants to help you right now.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

Yeah, absolutely. And let's take this into practical life. And again, and I'm sure there'll be some debate about this phrase. You there is one thing you have to, you have to take the step, you have to be the one to take the step towards God. But in the context of God sitting on his throne up in heaven and looking down, he's like, Well, I'm not gonna help Isaac until he goes and does this. That just doesn't seem like the type of God that we serve. God is always wanting to help those who are humble. And in some, if you put this into practical life, the first one is prayer reveals dependence on God. One practical way to evaluate our dependence on God is how much do we actually pray every day? And because prayer is admitting, I need help, I need God, I need to lay this at his feet, and I need to bring this to him. Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

And then secondly, it's that uh understanding that weakness in itself is not a failure because sometimes the seasons that we hate the most are the seasons where dependence on God grows the deepest. And it's God tells us he's gonna be with us in the highs and he's gonna be with us in the lows. And a lot of times I feel like in the people that I've talked to, and I don't know if you feel the same way, Dad, but a lot of people that have really put their dependence on God when they're in the lowest of all valleys, that's when they grow the closest to him, and that's when they're able to put the dependence, and it makes those high feelings afterward even more because that they have that and they know where it comes from.

SPEAKER_02 13:17

The next thought is success can quietly create distance between us and God. And this statement is not saying that success is bad, but we've seen this multiple times in our life where at first God's blessing's upon us, it's great, and then all of a sudden we start to see people slide. Or even when things are going really good for us, it starts to slide and creates a distance. And sometimes success becomes spiritually dangerous for us because people stop slowly depending on God, and it's not intentionally, but it is gradually a little bit out of time. And again, it's just a warning and something for us to look forward.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

Yeah. And then lastly, here we want to just let you know that grace and that grace that is given to us freely, it destroys pride. And when we're looking at the gospel, it has no room in it for I have earned this. There is no if this was an earned salvation, I don't think that I ever could do it. There, there's a price that I there is a price on my salvation. It's something that I could never pay. And there's nothing that I could do to ever do it. And that's the beauty of it, is because it takes, it's not about what we have done, it's about what Christ has done. And what Christ has done is given his life so that we can be with him in eternity. So it's important for us to remember that there is no room for I earn this and for us to understand that everything begins with grace. So let's look at our weekly challenge for this week for our listeners and also for ourselves. And here it is pay attention to where you instinctively rely on yourself first instead of God. Maybe it's in your stresses, maybe it's in your finances, maybe it's in your relationships, control or your future plans and things like that. Maybe that's where you're relying on yourself instead of God.

SPEAKER_02 14:56

And before trying to fix something this week in in your life, stop and pray first. I mean, don't use that as a last resort. Show dependence on Christ. There's greatness in having personal initiative, and there's greatness in doing things on your own and trying to empower yourselves. Those are all great things. That I think the point we're trying to say here is that one, don't be self-reliant on yourself. God has promised us if we accept him, he's there for us through every day of life.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

And that's to go, and that's maybe you're in a season right now where it feels like you've been trying to fix something and you've been doing it on yourself, and you didn't go and you didn't pray first, and that's not like you feel like that you are at a last resort. That prayer is still something. Whenever you do put that dependence down on him, that is still something. So whether you're this week, you're thinking about something, or maybe you're in that storm right now, or maybe you're trying to fix something right now, just stop where you are and pray and put that dependence on God instead of putting it on you. To kind of uh wrap up everything that we've done today, just think about this in this line. Jesus never said God helps those who help themselves. He showed us that God actually helps those who who know that they need Him.

SPEAKER_02 16:12

God, teach us to depend on you instead of ourselves. Help us recognize the areas where pride and self-sufficiency have quietly taken over in our lives. Remind us that your grace is enough even in our weakness. Teach us to trust you not only when life is difficult, but also when life feels comfortable and in control. Keep our hearts humble, dependent, and always surrender to you in Jesus' name. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

Thanks for joining us on Shoes Off. Until next time, keep walking in faith. And remember, growth begins on holy ground.