Self-sufficiency

Self-sufficiency. We all strive for it. Starting with our drive to more and more independence: to feed ourselves, to cross the street by ourselves, to walk to the store by ourselves, to start the campfire all by our self. We want to show that we can do things without the help of others. For some that pioneering spirit leads us to grow our own food, preserve our own food, teach our own kids, ride a bike or walk so we aren't so dependent on that foreign oil, or try to figure out what's wrong with this or that so we don't have to pay someone else to. As much as we might like to think that we could make it on our own if we had to...the truth is we can't. We were created to need each other. The New Testament talks about us like a body. Each has it's part. It graphically says, "The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I do not need you!'" (1 Cor. 12:21) Unfortunately, our striving for self-sufficiency often effects our spiritual lives. We want to do it on our own, our way. Sometimes it seems a little to risky to trust in a particular situation. What if God isn't quite in tune with what is going on this time? The Bible tells that He knows our thoughts(Ps. 94:11) and He knows our needs even before we ask Him (Mt. 6:8). We are so short sighted to think that we can navigate this life without Him. All that we have, are and will be comes from Him.(2 Peter 1:3)
There is only One who is self-sufficient and that is the source of our sufficiency. God, alone! The Father has life in Himself. (John 5:26) His existence is not dependent upon us. Neither is His Godness, His love, His kindness, His power, His mercy, His justice, His wisdom, His holiness. He is all these things independent of us. He has been these from eternity past ("In the beginning God..." Gen 1:1) and continues to be these irregardless of our relationship to Him. We experience who He is because that is who He is, not because of what we have or haven't done. As A.W. Tozer states, "He has no necessary relation to anything outside of Himself." (p.39, The Knowlege of the Holy) How thankful I am that He chose to have a relationship with me. (Eph. 1:4) Oh that I would see all of my sufficiency rooted in the one and only self-sufficient.