Weak Principles

You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me. --John 5:39

I have to get something off my chest that has been bothering me for many years. In an attempt to be unique, and for legitimate reasons, many ministries have arisen over the years, each one saying it has a particular and supposedly new concept that is permanently life changing. Such claims are not true. All we hear are the victory stories; we are not getting the facts. I can be guilty of it myself, but I will tell you a secret: Exchanged life does not work. The cross does not work. Grace does not work. Evangelism does not work. Memorizing Scripture does not work. None of it works. I see what goes on in the inner circles, the things to which not all believers are privy. Among these organizations there have been divorces, affairs, homosexuality, and even worse, glory seeking, material protection (when supposedly the message within the material was given by God), bickering, competition, and more. I have seen it all, and here is why. The best teaching in the world can become a principle that eventually is viewed as needing to be protected. Therefore, only the stories that prop it up are told. I can honestly say that I have a nearly 100% cure rate in my office. Just about everyone will say they were helped that day. What about a year later, though? It is all really simple. It is not the principle of the cross that is effective; it is the Jesus who died on the cross. It is not the principle of grace that will keep a believer, but the grace of Jesus that will. It is not the principle of exchanging one’s life for His; it is the reality of the living Jesus. It is not the Scriptures that keep a person in time of trouble; it is the Jesus to whom they point.It is a struggle to keep things focused on Jesus when principles can be packaged, names added, statistics given, and income produced. With Jesus, any who want and seek Him can have Him. He is much higher than any principle. Walk with a principle for a year and a believer will find himself right where he began. Walk with Jesus for a year and he will be a year beyond where he began.

- Mike Wells