Nuancing a Spiritual Platitude

From time to time, one hears in Christian circles, on social media, and even in Catholic preaching, certain phrases or spiritual platitudes that sound nice, but which are false.

For example, there is a common saying that goes like this: “God won’t give you more than you can handle.”

From a theological standpoint, it would be better to say, “God won’t give you more than he can handle.”

When a priest says in a homily that “God won’t give you more than you can handle”, you can be sure that there are many people in the pews who would beg to differ. They will be thinking that there are many people who are overcome by tough situations in their lives.

For example, there are drastic situations in which a person gives up on life and commits suicide or has an overdose.

If this spiritual platitude is correct, what happened in the case of the person who commits suicide? Did that person get something wrong? A suicide is a clear indication that there are things in life that are surely “too much to handle”. The person in the pew may be asking themself, “Did God just give up on people? Does God not care at all?”

And on top of the extreme case of suicide, there are less drastic situations that are still clearly life-altering:

• Diseases and illnesses that lead to death.

• Relationship struggles that tear a family apart.

• Financial situations that lead a person to a life of sin.

• Doubts of faith that cause a person to despair.

All these examples point to the fact that we should be wary of using a quote that doesn’t pass the “test of daily life”. While there may be a way to theologically spin the phrase in question to claim it is true, it will not “sound true” to a large part of the audience in the pew.

So, let’s be careful with our words. That in itself is an act of Christian charity!