“God helps those who help themselves”
In a recent discussion on ways to prevent certain illnesses, I was surprised to hear a dear friend say that one of his favorite Bible quotes is “God helps those who help themselves.” I always thought it was part of a song, like you would hear in Saturday morning cartoons.
Turns out we were both wrong. This saying is actually believed to have originated in ancient Greece, as the moral in one of Aesop’s fables.
Just because this quote did not originate in the Bible does not make it any less valuable. I do not like to see somebody sitting back and taking whatever hard times life throws their way without at least trying to achieve something better. It worries me to hear certain people interpret God’s word as meaning that they should just sit back and let whatever happens happen. … Or even worse, to sit back and act like the world owes them something when they are not doing their fair share.
Please, if you want a nice home and car, be willing to work for it. – Not just sit back and wait for a large inheritance, a winning lottery ticket, or some other form of handout. And if you are going to work for it – do honest work. Don’t be a scammer.
If you want good health, be willing to eat right, exercise, and avoid health-threatening habits.
If you want good relationships, you must be willing not only to be a good friend or lover to others, but to make the difficult decision of knowing when to back off from those who would hold you back or hurt you. This is a particularly hard one because we are often guilted into not wanting to give up on somebody who may need our help. But letting yourself be beat or worn down by the negative influences in this world adds to the harm.
We all have something to contribute to this world. Figure out what it is that you can do and turn it into a way to not only leave this world a better place, but to help get yourself some of the things that you want along the way.
Even with hard work and determination, we won’t all have everything we want. But at least we will have done our part toward being a good person. In the end, I believe that if we try to be the best we can be, it will be worth-while.