I recall one of my high school teachers who had a saying: Good, better, best never let it rest, till your good is your better and your better is your best.

In 2016 the self-help industry netted $10 billion. That is a lot of people hopping on a train to becoming better people. I wonder how many of those people ended up derailing and quitting? I know I have started and stopped everything from weight loss to time management to decluttering. My inbox is full of old, free classes I signed up for and never followed through, just trying to feel better, do better, be better, look better. Not much of the effort I put in actually worked for me.

Do not get me wrong, I think that someone who has no desire for change or growth in their lives is a person who is living without hope. There are always areas we can improve and change as we mature with age and experience. I believe that God always has a new surprise for us no matter how old we are or what we are doing in our life at the moment. If we ever get to a place where we feel like we are permanently stuck, then we are also in a place where we ceased trusting that God desires more for us than mediocrity.

In the book Smith Wigglesworth: A Life Ablaze With the Power of God the author William Hacking said of Wigglesworth:

I know there was never a man so utterly oblivious or unconcerned about personality as himself. The only personality that mattered to Smith Wigglesworth was the Personality of the Holy Spirit, and the only person to receive the glory was the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, he was known to be quiet ruthless with anyone attempting to minister, whom he suspected of parading their personality.

When I read this quote this morning, it made me think about all the time and money and energy I have wasted over the years on my own personality. This man who was used on the earth to carry on the works of Jesus (which in reality would be ALL of us as well) did not spend his efforts on his own personality because he was focused on exhibiting the personality of the Holy Spirit. Does this mean that we do not look for bettering ourselves or setting goals that will bring us to a new level of knowledge or closer to the desires that God has placed in us? No! However, I now realize the times I have planned and then crashed and burned on the path to betterment is because I was so focused on MY personality that I kept my focus on myself and what I needed to change and what I needed to do that I failed to put any focus on the one who really matters-God! As a follower of Christ I should always want to seek better things, to grow in Him, to greater holiness through surrender, humility, and compassion. I think it is possible to do this in the middle of becoming a better person, but I want to focus on God-help and not self-help.

This morning I realized I can give myself permission to do self-help but only for a season. Self-help will teach me how to look inward and self reflect in a positive fashion (while praying that God will reveal my innermost parts to me so that I can see what I need to allow Him to change) but to mature spiritually I then must lose all of this inwardness and surrender the betterment of who I am to the Personality of God.

Some people are satisfied with it, if it is good, some want it better. The best is only good enough for me improved.

Smith Wigglesworth

It is an important part of our process to get to the place where we desire self-help. That is the first step towards growth and change. However, we must also remember that in this process we are improving our own self to actually surrender who we are (no matter where in life we are at) to take on the character and Personality of the Holy Spirit. I will improve myself so that I may want, believe, and know only the best of Him.