The Fallacy of Self-Sufficiency

There is a subtle theological issue that plagues many Christians.  The issue is that some believe that God desires for us to handle our sin or that God desires for us to make ourselves more godly through praying more, studying better, and giving more generously.  The lie at the heart of this stream of Christianity is this: God wants you to handle your affairs and He'll help you fill in the gaps.  Another way to say this would be something like this: if you try harder you'll be a better Christian.  Again, another way to say this would be to say: God is most pleased with me when I am taking care of my business best.  For fear that I'm not expressing this well enough I will say it even again: what God wants most from me is my best effort.

Each of these is a variation of the same theme and each is an articulation of the same subtle lie. Girding this theology is the unspoken thought that Jesus saved us so that we could finally be self-sufficient enough to take care of the rest of our lives.  The little bits of sin that linger after salvation, well, they'll be taken care of through grit and strength of character or because we are so committed to disciplined morality in our lives.  The thought, often un-expressed, is that Jesus did what I couldn't with sin so that I would be able to do what I could in ridding the rest of my life through my own strength of will.

I'll call this The Fallacy of Self-Sufficiency. In this form of Christianity, the highest form of godliness is self-control, togetherness, composure, and internal fortitude of character.  Sin is thought to be something needing to be managed personally.  The valuation of a person's Christian experience is based upon whether the individual can articulate the right doctrines and project a life that is composed and generally sin-free (quack like a duck, waddle like a duck, then must be a duck).  Externally the Christian who lives under the fallacy of self-sufficiency will project an aura of togetherness, strength, knowledge, and ability.  But internally they will continually feel weak, embittered, and anemic as the limits of their sufficiency are continually brought to their senses in the accusations of the Enemy; sin will remain un-repented, and the greater traits of love will escape them.

I want to say this directly: this is a lie.

God wants a people who are whole-heartedly dependent upon Him for every single breath, every single thought, and every single action.  He wants a people that are so recklessly devoted to Him that they would be destroyed unless He shows up.  It is not about trying harder; it's about trusting Him more with the most hidden parts of ourselves, the grimy bits we never let anyone in to see.  God wants us to so rely upon Him for our strength and our salvation to the utmost, that if He is not who He claims to be then we are, as Paul asserts, deserving of the most pity.  (There is so much more to say but I will save that for another day)

It is not about becoming more self-sufficient in Christ.  It is about becoming more God-dependent in Christ.  Let us always keep this before us as we strive to live lives that bring Him the highest praise!

God Helps those who Cannot Help Themselves

There is a common aphorism that's thrown around Christian circles with such frequency that many people have come to think that it is actually a biblical quote.  How many of us have heard this used in a devotional context: "God helps those who help themselves."  And, although there is a grain of truth to the statement, it is neither sacrosanct nor scriptural in nature.

For starters, this quote was not written by an apostle, a prophet, a pastor, or even a Christian.  It was written by Benjamin Franklin, an avowed deist who truly lived his life by this maxim.  The deists believed in God's existence as a transcendent being, the Creator and original cause, but they did not believe that God was imminent, in that, He never intervened in creation.  Therefore, Franklin and those like him felt that self-reliance was necessary as one could not depend upon God, who is transcendent and distant, to intervene on the human's behalf at any time.

The issue at hand is self-reliance and its biblical basis.  At the onset, a basic definition of self-reliance is in order.  Self-reliance refers to an individual relying upon their own strength, resources, guile, volition, intelligence, effort, or general power to achieve, sustain, and support themselves all while eschewing input, of resource or otherwise, from others.  Using this as our basic definition Scripture gives a remarkably unified indictment upon self-reliance, unequivocally indicating that self-reliance is not only unbiblical but is, in fact, disbelief that leads to outright sin.

The first instance of self-reliance, and a revealing example at that, occurs in Genesis 3, when Eve picks and eats of the forbidden fruit.  Eve did not trust God to provide her with wisdom and knowledge, but rather relied upon her own gumption, which led to sin.  Think of the Israelites wandering through the desert.  As they came to the Promised Land, they saw the giants and trembled in fear, believing that they could never defeat them and possess the land.  The result of their self-reliance was death in the wilderness and an entire generation failing to reach the Promised Land.  Or think of Saul, chosen to be king of all of Israel, but because he did not trust in God in patience, but rather relied upon his own will and assessment of the situation, sacrificed to the Lord in unbelief and the kingdom was removed from him for his self-reliance.

This is a minute swatch of biblical evidence but the point is clear: God does not ask believers to be self-reliant; He wants us to be God-reliant.  This means that we will rely on Him for our strength, for our resource, for our direction, and for our decision making.  Self-reliance is the very essence of pride, which leads to all sorts fo sin and debauchery.

However, and this needs to be heard clearly, to say that God does not want us to be self-reliant does not in any way, shape, or manner mean that God wants us to be lazy, lackadaisical, or unintentional in work.  He demands that we work.  Yet, the point at hand is that we would work for Him and through His empowering and in accord with His will.  In fact, God helps those who cannot help themselves, those who have no strength of their own at all, and have no resources of any sort.  This is the very essence of grace.  Let us then strive not to be self-reliant but to be God-reliant in all things!