The Bible Doesn't Say That.

There are SO many "catchphrases" that Christians use today that they think are in the Bible, but are not really in the Bible at all. In fact, Christians often quote these catchphrases more than they quote the actual words of the Bible!

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Here are FIVE things many Christians believe, but the Bible actually never says:

1. "God won't give you more than you can handle."

Wrong. God will give you WAY more than YOU can handle. Paul even experienced this himself in 2 Corinthians 1:8 where he writes, " We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, **far beyond our ability to endure**, so that we despaired of life itself..."

God WILL give us more than WE can handle; but God WON'T give us more than HE can handle.

And if you have the Holy Spirit living in you, God can do great things through you that you could not do on your own.

1. "Just follow your heart"

Wrong. Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"

To "just follow your heart" would be to just follow your emotions, which are constantly changing, and are never stable. Scripture calls us to be "sober minded" and "stable."

We should not "just follow our heart." We should follow Jesus, even if our heart tells us otherwise.

1. "When God closes a door, He opens a window"

Wrong. When God closes a door, sometimes he locks the door and boards up the windows. There is no guarantee he will "open a window" for you. He might want you to recognize you have been in the right house all along and you need to stay there for a while!

When Christians say this, they think that even if God stops the whole plan, He will still allow part of the plan to succeed. Sure. This may be the case. But it is often not. Sometimes God wants you not to take that job, opportunity, relationship, or whatever either through a door or a window.

Sometimes God just wants you to stay put and follow Him right where you are, just like the Apostles, who desired to minister to the world, but were told by Jesus to stay put for a certain time in Acts 1:1-8.

1. "Let go and let God"

Wrong. You are not a potato. God has no obligation to roll you off the couch and do your responsibility for you. Christians often use this phrase when they are in a situation that they feel they cannot handle, and it is often used as a crutch to stop acting. But Scripture tells us we are 100% responsible to do our part, while God is 100% responsible to do His part.

Got a problem at work? You still have to do your part to resolve it.

Relationship problem? You still have to do your part to resolve it.

A grand vision you are afraid of? You still have to do your part to accomplish it.

As J.I. Packer says, “The Christian’s motto should not be ‘Let go and let God’ but ‘Trust God and get going.’”

1. "God helps those who help themselves"

Wrong. God helps those He promises to help in His Word. And, indeed, God often helps those who not only do not help themselves, but CANNOT help themselves.

We cannot save ourselves, yet God helps us (Romans 5:6-11).

We cannot overcome our sin, yet God helps us (Romans 6:5-7).

We cannot approach God on our own, yet God helps us (Hebrews 4:14-16).

Sure, there are some situations in which you need to “help yourself,” and God may, indeed, help you there. But he is not obligated to. And there is no guarantee He will.

We need to be VERY careful not to claim God has said things that he never actually said.

Instead of quoting catchphrases and making people believe they are in the Bible, we should actually study our Bibles and quote Scripture in context.

Quote Scripture, not catchphrases.

Keep Thinking!

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