THE DANGER OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY

We sat together in the local Starbuck’s on a Saturday morning. He sipped a hot chocolate while I enjoyed my usual black, bold coffee, and we talked about the need for consistent time spent in prayer and the reading of the word of God. One older guy (me) and one young man (him), wrestling together with the obstacles that interfere with these critical disciplines of a believer in Jesus Christ.

My young, mid-twenties friend had approached me a few weeks beforehand, and asked that I consider an “accountability relationship.” I am ashamed to admit it, but my first thought was “I don’t have the time”. However, I told him that I would pray about it. The Lord has taught me a number of things over the last decade, and one of them is that when He brings people across my path, I am to slow down and pay attention. As I prayed about this young man and his request, it wasn’t long before I knew that I must take the time to engage with him. So there we were – talking in Starbuck’s on a cold Saturday morning in January, 2011.

Like most people, we are different from one another in some respects, and alike in others. He is a “technology person – I am not. He has his Bible on his smart phone – mine is a ratty old paper version held together by duct tape. He doesn’t take notes – I try to write everything down. He is very, very smart – I barely cross the threshold of average in that department.

There are other differences to be sure, but we are also similar in two very important ways. One similarity is good. One is not. First – we are brothers in the Lord. We both know – and know that we know – that Christ has saved us. This of course is good. Second – we are both prone to self-sufficiency. This is not good. Here is what I mean…

As a young Christian, I believed that I could live a life worthy of my calling (Eph 4:1) in my own strength. After all, I was a fairly well disciplined person and very independent – or so I thought. I rarely asked anyone for help, in any area of my life. God himself was relegated to a subordinate role. I was the Lone Ranger and he was my faithful companion Tonto – always riding a few steps behind me, and ready to come to my aid when things got really bad. Because I was riding without the counsel of God and of other, more mature Christians, things did get really bad from time to time.

A life of self-sufficiency and independence is not what God desires for me or you. A life of “God-sufficiency” and interdependence is what He calls us to. I now understand that the law of sin is constantly at work within me, and there is absolutely no chance that my “self” could ever be sufficient to live life as I should. I also understand that God has designed us to live as parts of one body – interdependently. (See 1 Cor 12:12-26)

I wish that I had the good sense of my mid-twenties friend when I was young. I have great respect for him because he was willing to step out in faith and with courage and say “I can’t do this alone.” The reality is that none of us can.

As we talked that day in Starbuck’s, I realized that God was using our conversation – often my own words – to remind me that there are areas of my life that I need to re-examine. It seems that when two hands are joined together, it’s hard to tell which one was extended FOR help, and which was extended TO help.

In Christ -

John

Soli Deo Gloria