Christian Cliches #1

Cliches are so cliche!

There’s something to the idea that stereotypes are unhelpful. After all, just because someone is something (whether it’s their race, the place they come from, the sports team they support, the interests they have etc) doesn’t mean they are the same as another person who is that same thing. But at the same time, there is also something to the reason why stereotypes exist, that people who share certain things in common can sometimes also act similarly in certain situations.
In the same way, I believe that clichés can be unhelpful but at the same time may also have something to them. Unhelpful in that if you take them without being critical and thinking about what they are being used in relation to then you will have a major misunderstanding of what Christianity is. But at the same time there is sometimes some validity to what is being intended, albeit badly worded.
In what may be a regular series (I have currently got a list of more than 30!), I want to take a look at one in particular in this blog and see what, if anything, can be taken positively from it.

“Let Go And Let God”

So why start with this one? Well, it’s certainly been something that I have been thinking myself recently, even said it in a conversation with someone, but it’s also something that can so often be said among Christians when someone is having trouble letting go of something or where they find themselves not knowing what to do. I’m sure there are many other reasons it’s said too!

So what’s the problem with this cliché?

Well, the first thing to say is that it’s not something that’s directly said in the Bible, so that should be the first thing that makes us look at something more before taking it on board. Sure, it sounds good. After all, while it doesn’t rhyme (something that can also appear in Christian clichés) it does have an alliteration aspect to it and that can be part of the appeal for clichés to be taken on by people. But it is never, at least to my knowledge, something that you can give chapter and verse for it appearing there.
This doesn’t mean that something that doesn’t appear in the Bible can never be taken as helpful in any way, but we should immediately look to the Bible if we are seeking to find Godly advice and this cliché is not there verbatim in any translation I’ve seen.

Another issue with this is the potential ways that it could be taken. For example, completely letting go and doing nothing is not what we are supposed to do. We are told we need to endure (2 Timothy 2:3), to run the race to the end (2 Timothy 4:7), to stand against the Devil’s schemes (Ephesians 6:11) and to hold fast (Deuteronomy 10:20).
None of these things we are told to do are passive, where we simply stand back and let things happen to us. In all these things we are supposed to be taking an active part on what’s going on. Indeed, we are even called to take part WITH God (Matthew 28:19-20).

So is there a helpful side to this cliché?

Well, yes there is.
The first thing to point to is that the Bible is also very clear that we can’t do all things on our own. We are told to be strong in the Lord (Ephesians 6:10), rather than to rely upon our own strength. To put on the full armour of God (Ephesians 6:11) because we need Him to protect us. Without God’s power we are not strong, without His armour we are not protected.

Jesus points out that we need to be connected to Him. If we are not a part of Jesus then we will not bear fruit (John 15:4). We cannot be fruitful in a Godly way if we are not a part of Him.

We are also told that we should trust in God, not our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5). Also that we should cast our anxiety onto God because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).

So why does this matter?

Speaking personally, it has been a recent realisation that has come from looking at a promise that I believe God has given me and then wondering how on earth it is going to happen. And this is something that we can all struggle with if we believe we feel God’s calling to something but we simply cannot see how we will get there.

And to this the story of Abraham speaks most clearly to me. Abram was promised that his descendants would be more numerous than the stars at a time when he was already getting on a bit and he and his wife Sarai had no children (Genesis 15:5). Abram and Sarai got so convinced that they had to do something to make God’s promise come true that they went outside of God’s promise by Sarai telling Abram to sleep with her maidservant Hagar (Genesis 16:2). Through Hagar, Abram had a son called Ishmael, but Ishmael was not the son of promise that God had given. Rather than trusting in God, Sarai and Abraham tried to do it themselves and there are many consequences to their actions that the descendants of the promised child, Isaac, had to deal with. However, Abraham clearly learned over time that he could trust God’s promises, for when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac to Him he was willing to do so because he trusted that if Isaac were to die then God would still fulfil His promise, because that is who God is (Genesis 22).

And to me, I believe that this speaks loudest and clearest to the idea of “let go and let God”, as it speaks to the point that we need to let God fulfil His promises in the way He sees fit. God can tell us that He has a plan for our lives, that He has gifts He will give to us and things for us to do for Him, but God also has a way for these things to take place in our lives. There is no amount of us trying to force the matter through that will make them happen sooner than God has planned.

And so, ultimately, it comes down to having faith and keeping going. To keep holding on to the promise and having faith that the God who gave that promise to you is also the God who will deliver on His promise to you.