“We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God. He has enabled us to be ministers of His new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:4-6a NLT)
To believe we are sufficient in and of ourselves to accomplish anything of lasting spiritual significance is to misunderstand the nature of spiritual growth and development. Jesus makes this crystal clear in John 15:5 when He said: “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in Me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.” The word used in the original Greek is an absolute negative which basically means “Not a single thing, no exceptions!”
Self-sufficiency and Christ-dependency are mutually exclusive concepts. To have one excludes and eliminates the other. To be a Jesus follower and believe I can tie my own shoes is to misunderstand the nature of the relationship. Jesus is my source of EVERYTHING! Every breath, the ability to move every muscle, speak every word, think every thought, accomplish every task – there are no exceptions.
The longer I live and serve the Lord the more inclined I am to believe that ANYTHING I do without acknowledging my complete and utter dependence upon the Lord borders on blasphemy. You may not agree, and I’m not prepared to say, “Thus sayeth the Lord!” but hear my heart. As Jesus followers our heart’s aim and desire is to have oneness, intimacy, and complete unity with the Father. How is that accomplished?
Of course, it’s a process that isn’t completed until we close our eyes in death and open them in the presence of our Master, but the process includes acknowledging our dependency upon the Lord in every area of our lives. It’s not unlike the arena of trust. I don’t trust myself to do anything without the Lord’s help and guidance.
The point is, as a child of God, apart from Jesus we are nothing, but don’t misunderstand. That’s not how the Lord views us. He views us as His sacred prize, His “masterpiece,” a magnificent work that He is forming to be something unique and grand. That’s why, even in our failures, He’s encouraging and inviting us to get up and try again.
Not many are able to jump on a bike and ride away the first time without failing to keep our balance and falling, what seems to be, an endless number of times. But remember the first time you rode and didn’t fall? It was like a new world of opportunity was opening to you! In a similar way, we learn to “keep our balance” spiritually, when the Lord” “releases” His hand from the back of our “bike,” and allows us to make mistakes and fail spiritually.
It’s not that He’s left us, He’s nearer than the air we breathe, but He intentionally allows us to experience times when we realize that we really can’t do anything of spiritual significance without Him. Even people who don’t profess faith are literally dependent upon the Lord, they just haven’t realized it.
Our goal as a believer in Jesus is to be conformed to His likeness, but to begin that process we must do exactly what He did, submit to the full rulership and ownership of the Father. Notice the words of Jesus in John 14:30-31, when He said: “I don’t have much more time to talk to you, because the ruler of this world approaches. He has no power over Me, but I will do what the Father requires of Me. so that the world will know that I love the Father.”
Self-sufficiency doesn’t “do what the Father requires of Me!” Only God dependency can do that!
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 