If you have ever been in a secular bookstore don’t be surprised that it will often have a large section devoted to self-help books. Before I became a Christian, I read many self-help books in an attempt to find happiness and meaning in my life. Sadly, after reading many books on areas such as transcendental meditation, Silva mind control, Zen Buddhism, and eastern philosophy, all of which fall under the category of self-help, I had more questions than before I read these books on what the purpose of life is.
And it wasn’t until I gave my life to Christ, that I discovered why these self-help books and worldviews were never able to bring me happiness and meaning. For you see, I now realize that asking our sinful self to discover the ultimate meaning in life is impossible because our sinful self doesn’t have the ability or capacity to find what only Christ can deliver. Even many Christians unfortunately rely too much on self to discover what only Christ can provide. Arthur W. Pink said it well: “The great mistake made by most of the Lord’s people is in hoping to discover in themselves that which is to be found in Christ alone.”1
The great French mathematician and philosopher, Blaise Pascal, once said: “Not only do we know God by Jesus Christ alone, but we know ourselves only by Jesus Christ. We know life and death only through Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus Christ, we do not know what is our life, nor our death, nor God, nor ourselves.”2 And whether the unregenerate sinner wants to admit it or not the Scriptures tell us that: “…He has also set eternity in the human heart…” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). You see, everyone know that there is a God and we will live for eternity, yet mankind suppresses this truth, rather than admit he is a sinner that will in the end be accountable to a holy God.
So asking self to find the answers to the deep questions of life, through self-help books, that basically deny Christ, is an impossibility since only in and through Christ alone can we discover who we really are and why we are here on planet earth.
Thankfully, there is one book that points us away from self to Christ, and provides us with the answers to all of life’s difficult questions. My friends, the Bible is the ultimate answer book in our quest for meaning and I thank God for one day helping me to see that apart from Christ there can be no hope of ever finding our real self – which is a sinner redeemed by Christ and made in the image of God, who can only experience peace, joy, and amazing meaning outside of self and in Christ!
1 Arthur W. Pink Quote: “The great mistake made by most of the Lord’s people is in hoping to discover in themselves that which is to be found in…”