I actually like Anthony Robbins.  You’ve probably seen his infomercials on TV. He’s the tall guy with big teeth (a joke he makes about himself) and a deep voice who claims to be able to help people to change anything in their lives.  I appreciate his work.  I’ve listened to a lot of his CDs and I think he has some good things to say.  I believe he’s sincere in wanting to help people, and he seems to be a man of faith because he makes a lot of references to God, prayer, and meditation.

But I have a problem with the title of his best selling audio self-help series: Personal Power.  I’d like to propose a different take on that title.  For those of us trying to live as disciples of the Lord, I’d like to propose we live by Personal Powerlessness.

St. Paul wrote, “For when I am weak, then I’m strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10)  Lately, I’ve become more and more convinced that I am nothing without the Lord and that I can do nothing good without Him.  The bad that I do is because of me; the good that I do is because of God’s grace and my cooperation with Him.

In my own life, I’ve been trying to face my own weaknesses more and I’m beginning to see anew that I need God’s power to overcome weakness.  It’s not about self-perfection or my personal power; it’s about the power of the Holy Spirit in me.  The truth is that there are just certain things in our lives that we can’t overcome on our own power, and it’s okay to admit that.  That’s why God is God and we’re not.

Personal power, I believe, is a delusion.  It makes us into our own God.  It makes us think we’re in control.  This is not to say that we don’t have free will.  Free will is one of God’s greatest gifts to us, and properly used it is a tremendous force for good.  But, unaided by His grace and power, we can misuse our free will.

I don’t know what tomorrow will bring.  I don’t know what the next hour will bring.  Some things are beyond my control.  But I do know that my life is in God’s hands, and each day I need to make a decision to turn my life and will over to Him so that His power will be at work in me.  So, thanks for your good work Tony Robbins, but I’m passing on the personal power philosophy.  I need God’s power in me, because sometimes my own power just isn’t enough.

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