People are desperately in need of the gospel, but they reject it because they would rather rely on good advice for what they need to do rather than receive good news about what Jesus will do for them. Humans love self-help strategies that promise you can fix yourself until they inevitably find that these strategies don’t actually help self. Well-meaning sayings like toughen up, lighten up, buck up and cheer up are just a set up that make us want to give up. Real, lasting inside-out transformation will only come when we ask God to begin and complete His good work in us. He’s ready, willing and able to do it if we’ll stop trying to do it ourselves.
