The Problem With Blogs Like Mine

The problem with blogs like mine is that if you don't read closely enough, or I don't write clearly enough, it appears as if it's about self-improvement. I write about writing better and reading better and loving better and living better. I write about being a better husband and father, a better friend, and a better employee. I write about finding more happiness and joy and about improved relationships and decision-making and success. If you don't read closely enough or I don't write closely enough, it all stops hopelessly there. And to stop there is indeed an empty endeavor.

Self-improvement for the sake of self-improvement will not make me happy. It will not fulfill me, nor will I ever be good enough to be satisfied. Most importantly, it certainly won't save my soul. I cannot work hard enough and perfect myself well enough to be worthy of anything. No, if my goal in living and relating better is anything other than God glorified, it is a fruitless road full of useless sacrifice.

The same danger exists in reading the Old Testament. I've started a (very challenging) course this week called The Simeon Trust, which provides instruction on Biblical exposition. The first unit is on Old Testament narrative, and the number one message to come out of week one is that the purpose of the Old Testament is to point to Christ. To read and teach and preach for any other goal than to proclaim the Messiah is to misuse the text. Every time we read it looking for moral lessons from the characters that we can apply to our own lives for better living, we ignore the intentions of the text.

Two quotes from the reading this week really stood out to me. From William Willimon: "Unable to preach Christ and Him crucified, we preach humanity and it improved." To read and live in that way is to look for ourselves in every sentence of a book that is actually about Someone Else. It's ignoring the poetry for the sake of the footnote. And we do it because it seems easier. Working harder at personal greatness seems easier than complete and total dependence and awe.

The other quote from Jeffrey Arthurs perfectly portrays how I feel when I attempt personal betterment as the goal in and of itself: "It is hardly incidental that lifting up Christ and the glory of his Father is the best way to change behavior. Moralistic preaching without theological grounding feels like nagging with its never ending 'do more, do better.'" 

If you regularly read this blog, I thank you. If you read it with an eye for Christ, I beg you to hold me and my words accountable. And if you read it looking only for a better you, I warn you. A better me and a better you for the sake of only me and you will fall far short of excellence, joy, and goodness every time.