We couldn’t have planned the birth of our puppies better. I didn’t have to find a safe space to pet a puppy during the election. I got to pet a puppy every day in my own backyard. Did this lower my blood pressure? Probably. Did the election upset me? Yes, I realize this is a first world problem, but I practically had to give up Facebook. A lot of folks grew angry and ugly on Facebook during the election. I can find angry and ugly in the Walmart parking lot, I don’t need angry and ugly on my social media feed.

Now that the election is over, I’m trying to return to my favorite social media site, but something is really bothering me. In fact, it’s been bothering me for years on Facebook. I can define this problem in one word: self-help. Okay, that’s two words. Two little words that create a very big problem for Christians.

Self-help.

Let that sink in. Self. Help. I guess if you aren’t a Christian this isn’t a problem for you. By all means help yourself. After all, God helps those who help themselves. That’s even in the Bible, right?

I once believed God helped those who helped themselves and that it was actually written in the Bible. I’d been told this my whole life. But when I read the Bible for the first time, I found passage after passage about God helping the helpless. The needy. The lost. There was nothing in the Bible about God helping those who help themselves.

When God’s people were facing certain death with the Red Sea in front of them and Egypt’s mighty army coming from behind, God didn’t tell Israel to help themselves. God said, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again” Exodus 14:13. Then God parted the Red Sea and destroyed that deadly army. The people just ran. They didn’t help themselves, they escaped through the waters God parted for them.

Time and time again on Facebook I see self-help posts, many posted by Christians. This morning on Facebook there was a post for moms. “Help yourself by loving yourself,” was the point of this post.

There is a big “Love” movement happening in today’s church and on social media. The major problem is that this “love” movement is all about people. I don’t see anything about loving Jesus and repenting of your sins in this rising tide of Facebook love.

“The most common remedy for most behavioral and mental disorders today is some form of self-worth enhancement. It pervades our educational institutions, the psychotherapeutic and counseling system, the personnel and motivational industry, advertising, and even the church,” says John Piper. “I think the remedy is flawed. It is profoundly wrong to turn the cross of Christ into a warrant for self-esteem as the root of mental health.”

John Piper knows the truth. If I only followed Facebook and never read my Bible, I’d probably believe all these self-help love posts. I’d be looking for ways to make myself feel better, like petting puppies. And actually, I recommend petting a puppy. It really is good for your soul. But better for your soul is awakening to the cold, hard truth that you aren’t a good person. You don’t need to just love yourself, and love others, and this makes it all better. Really, you are a sinner in need of a savior. You can help yourself into hell, but you will never help yourself into heaven.

I know as human beings we don’t like to hear we aren’t good and that we need to repent. We’d rather tell ourselves how special we are. How worth loving we really are. How we can help ourselves all day long by loving ourselves. And loving others.

I’m sorry, but this just isn’t true. The best thing that ever happened to me was my mother-in-law moving in with us when I was a young wife and mother all those years ago. Back then, I believed all the self-help garbage in women’s magazines and even the self-help lies I heard spewed in church. But living with Big Momma taught me a cold hard truth about myself. I wasn’t a good person. Big Momma brought out the beast in me. Living with my mother-in-law showed me just how desperately I needed a savior.

So I turned to Jesus, repented of my sins, and got saved. Then I read the Bible. Talk about life-changing. By far the best thing I’ve done as a Christian is to read the Bible every day of my life. For sixteen years now, I’ve covered the whole Bible in a year. I don’t say this pridefully. I say this desperately. I am in desperate need of God’s truth. And so are you, my friend.

If I didn’t read the Bible every day those Facebook posts that sound so good about self-love would put lies in my mind and heart. Becoming a Christian didn’t make my life easier. In some ways, it’s gotten harder. But I wouldn’t trade Jesus for anything.

Petting puppies is lovely, but nothing compares to loving Jesus. If you want more love in your life, if you really want to help yourself and help others, love God. Dig into his Word. And don’t believe everything you see on Facebook.

This summer, I talked to an old high school classmate I enjoy following on Facebook. He has an amazing life, traveling all over the world, catching big fish, savoring spectacular sunsets in exotic places. I said, “Gosh, you have such a great life! You are so fun to follow on Facebook. I so love fishing, and hardly ever get to fish.”

This classmate looked me right in the eye and said, “Don’t believe it. That’s my Facebook life, not my real life. My real life is nothing like that. Most of the time, I just work.”

With my heart pounding, I asked this classmate how he was doing with Jesus. For a moment, he looked stunned, then he said, “I’m good with God. I’m a good person. If I’m not going to heaven there’s a whole lot of people not going to heaven, you know.”

“You know,” I said, “I’m sorry, but you’re not a good person. I’m not a good person, either. You and I are sinners in need of a savior.” I looked him right in the eye when I said it. That was the end of our conversation. But not the end of my prayers for this classmate. Jesus never told people to help themselves, but he often said, “Stop sinning.”

I’m sorry if this post doesn’t make you feel good today. It’s not meant to make you feel good. It’s meant to push you and me to look past ourselves and truly see God. To repent of trying to help ourselves and let God help us. Really help us.

But we do have the cutest puppies ever so here are a couple more puppy pictures to make you smile.

And Happy Thanksgiving. Being thankful does far more for your soul than helping yourself and loving yourself. So love Jesus. And be thankful.