Thinking from above, not below

“Too little too late” is a phrase invented by the devil. For thoughts invented by the devil, see James:

“This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic”(James 3:15, ESV).

I am not saying that the devil coined the English phrase per se for Merriam-Webster. What James means is that any thinking that is contrary to hope is contrary to God’s nature and therefore heretical and set on fire by hell. (See James 3:6 for things set on fire by hell.) The repeated call of Scripture is to hope in God to the uttermost, to hope against hope, to hope against all appearances. Like father Abraham did:

“… In hope he believed against hope …” (Romans 4:18, ESV).

To be sure, “too little too late” is not always demonic. The expression has legitimate applications. If you didn’t add enough salt to your stew, and it has already been served to your guests, and they have already eaten it, then it is clearly and sincerely “too little too late,” at least for that particular stew. Better luck next time.

But the devil sees to it that the concept of “too little too late” transfers illegitimately into other areas of your thinking where it doesn’t belong for a Christian.

Some examples to ponder: “I really messed up my family life; any effort I make at this point is ‘too little too late.’” Or, “He apologized to me but I cannot forgive him; it is ‘too little too late.’” Or, “I have so screwed up my life that nothing good can ever come of it. There is no real hope for my future. God will never use me in any important way. It’s ‘too little too late.’ Let me just be content that I am saved at all.”

What does the phrase “too little too late” even mean? (Satan does not want us to examine the thought too closely.) It’s just a mindless negative platitude. Who made you God’s judge of what’s too little too late?

I have come close to falling for the old demonic “too little too late” line. It pops into my mind occasionally, under the guise of reasonable and friendly counsel, and I come close to agreeing with it in a knee-jerk way. It has the force of popular wisdom behind it, the cogency of an oft-repeated truism.

The writer of Hebrews said—against all counter-propaganda from hell—about us professing Christians:

“… we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope” (Hebrews 3:6, ESV).

Confidence and hope that God can change any situation and fix the mess and do more than all we ask or think—that’s thinking from above, not below. In 2015 you could do worse than to make a resolution to get rid of all seditious and surreptitious “too little too late” thinking.