Check your sources

Self-help guides and devotionals are a ten billion dollar industry. Yet for every researched book with credentialed writers, there are five books with questionable authorship. Nowadays, online self-help speakers flood Facebook feeds with digital wisdom for every conceivable problem in our lives. It seems there are more experts than issues now. The biggest potential stumbling blocks are biblically based guides and devotionals (including YouTube commenters and 'influencers'). And sometimes the scripture used can become paraphrased (or taken out of context), despite the writer's or content creator's best efforts. It's akin to reading the Cliff's Notes version instead of reading the novel when writing that rushed term paper that's due the next morning.

There's nothing inherently wrong with many self-help books, videos, etc. But we must exercise caution when employing their (supposedly) sage advice into our daily lives. What are a certain authors' or speakers' background and/or education? Oftentimes we don't know or can't find out. Just because something or someone sounds good...doesn't make it so. Invoking biblical scripture into a self-help book's copy can run the risk of interjecting the author's own agenda and opinion into an otherwise un-biased piece or publication. The bible itself is an excellent source of wisdom. We know that guidance from our Heavenly Father is always truthful.

James 3:7 "But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere."

Before we let an author, publisher or online motivational speaker separate us from our hard earned money, let's check out how they stack up against the bible. After all, God's guidance is free.

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