Did you know that there are entire websites dedicated to providing detailed plans to build your own knock-off versions of really high-end, expensive furniture pieces? Want West Elm but can’t afford to eliminate groceries and insurance? No big deal. With moderate skill and a little ingenuity at a fraction of the cost, you can create your own DIY option. Beyond the things you might want but can’t stomach the sticker shock, there are also those pesky repairs with the labor costs more than four times the amount of the part. Ever had your automatic ice dispenser on the refrigerator door go out? Yes, definitely a first-world problem but also something worth repairing rather than replacing. Add free shipping status to a less than $20 part and YouTube will gladly rescue a person from wildly inflated repair charges. A simple video with a run time of eleven minutes or less with the option to pause, scroll, and repeat as needed will have a person enjoying cold beverages again in a single afternoon. There are likely hundreds, maybe thousands, of easily accessible tutorials available for all types of easier-than-one-might-assume repair jobs and make-it-on-your-own home, garden, and even automotive tasks.

Doing things yourself is satisfying both economically and emotionally. There is something special about stewarding your financial resources while stretching your skill set and boosting your confidence. It can be invigorating personally, professionally, and also spiritually. The crafty, industrious side of personhood echoes the very nature of a wildly creative, sufficient God in a way that not much else can. There is an independent, “I’ll do it myself,” two-year old inside of most that desires to take matters into his or her own hands and celebrate effort and achievement. That mindset is embedded into the DIY movement and truly something to marvel at as people solve problems, create beauty, and tackle big things.

I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galations 2:20

Any of these types of efforts, however, aren’t without risk. One could inadvertently make matters worse and more costly in the end. Some projects rightly come with a “do not try this on your own at home” expert warning. In addition, a person should also be careful with regard to just how much even the most successful endeavors serve to bolster individual pride and personalization. Beyond that disclaimer, there is a far more serious consideration. It lies in sometimes bold, yet often more subtle difference between customizing your kitchen cabinets and customizing your faith. This has always been at the core of sinful man. Since the board of directors in the plain of Shinar met and strategized the mighty tower, the design has been, “let us make a name for ourselves.” [Genesis 11:4 HCSB] Isaiah concluded that the mantra of the Babylonian world view remained, "I am, and there is none besides me.” [Isaiah 47”10 NIV] As sinful people, we like credit and acclaim. As sinful people, we also assume that custom, one-of-a-kind, and individual are all privileges to be celebrated and rights to be enjoyed.

While DIY shiplap headboards are awesome [if you like that popular look], a DIY faith is something to shift away from on several accounts.

1. First, the essence of Christian faith isn’t based on what you can do yourself, but ultimately what you could never, ever accomplish on your own. People like to say that salvation is free but that can be an incredible misnomer. Salvation is actually the most expensive thing ever known and no person who has ever lived could afford even a fraction of it. The forgiveness of sin cost God his son and Jesus his own blood. There simply isn’t a more costly, more extravagant gift. When you discover that you can’t repair your own water heater, you call an expert. When one discovers that they can’t repair their own broken relationship with God, one must call on Jesus. [Romans 10]

2. Second, a DIY Christian walk is little more than an effort to make a name for oneself, master one’s own destiny, and even assert that “there is none besides me” when it comes to a life of discipleship. Scot McKnight writes, “Christianity that is only about me and for me and concerns me - and in which I spend my time assessing how I am growing in my personal relationship with God - lacks the central society-focus of Jesus. That form of Christianity is not kingdom.” [McKnight, Scot. One.Life. Zondervan, 2010]

To properly understand faith and discipleship, a person can’t seek to do it himself. He must prepare to die to himself.

Nic Allen

Individuality isn’t a growing trend. It’s the road we have always been on with only one right turn in sight. To properly understand faith and discipleship, a person can’t seek to do it himself. He must prepare to die to himself. [Galatians 2:20] We need not only the expert to repair us but the community of others with their own broken bits and repaired parts to sustain us. To live a life of deep faith, it’s not about individualization or customization, it’s about community. People need other people. True disciples need to both the author and perfecter before us and the cloud of great witnesses around us. You don’t need a personal faith as much as you need persons of faith to live out your faith in and among and alongside. That doesn’t mean it won’t be crafty or creative or require hands-on leaning and learning. It does mean you won’t make it up as you go along and you certainly won’t be going it alone.