As we say goodbye to a year, we must re-evaluate our plans, purpose, and goals. We usually make resolutions to better ourselves at the beginning of the new year. The world tells us we reach our goals with self-motivation and self-discipline, but is that true for Christians? What does God think of our self-reliance?
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During the pandemic, I was at home more, and now I am unhappy with the extra pounds and flabby muscles resulting from a more sedentary lifestyle. I want to get active and healthier this year. Like many women I know, I would like to shed some pounds.
I would also like to improve my time management, which has become more difficult during the pandemic. The kids are more at home during the daytime, and my schedule is off. As I ponder what to do, I get discouraged because I do not know where to start. Since it is winter and there are still pandemic restrictions, I don’t know what to do.
I questioned my self-motivation, self-discipline, and ability to get in shape, so I asked God to help me. As I prayed, God faithfully answered with a loving response that instantly brought peace to my heart, and I pray it is a blessing to others. I believe God waits for us to stop trying to do things ourselves. Words like willpower and self-reliance do not seem valuable to our Heavenly Father, who invites us to see things from His perspective.
Self-Reliance Defined
Our society values and emphasizes words like independence, self-determined, self-sufficiency, and self-reliance. The definition of self-reliance is “reliance on one’s powers and resources rather than those of others.” Humans tend to think that doing something on their own is admirable. We strive to be independent, driven, hard-working, and focused. These are good traits, but we must remember that there is a limit to what we can accomplish on our own, and ultimately, we reach the end of our abilities.
Although we live in this world, we should always strive to see things as God sees them. We must be careful to distinguish and develop a God view as God’s perspective often clashes with the prevailing worldviews in our society. Everything we do as Christians should line up with the Word of God, the Bible. Although celebrated by most, self-reliance is a worldview and not a God-view because it forgets that God.
Self-Reliance and God-Given Talents
We must be careful when we celebrate our talents. For example, if we have giftedness in an area, we can quickly become lifted in pride. Similarly, if we meet someone skilled at something, we sometimes try to hold that person up in high regard, forgetting that all good gifts come from God (James 1:17 KJV). It can be easy to forget that even when someone is talented, their ability is limited.
God has called us to be His children, and He has called us to be His sheep. Children and sheep are both dependent on others. No one ever describes children or sheep as being self-reliant. Self-reliance says, “I can do it myself.” God-reliance says, like Philippians 4:13, “I can do all through Christ who strengthens me.”
Self-reliance is relying on our limited powers and resources. God-reliance means depending on God’s limitless resources and abilities to help us in every situation.
Self-Reliance In The Bible
The Bible is full of stories where people try to be self-reliant instead of obeying God’s commands or waiting for His promises to manifest. One example of self-reliance is King Saul, the first king of Israel. When God first chose King Saul, he was humble but lost his humility as he experienced battle victories.
In 1 Samuel 13, we see that King Saul overstepped his boundaries and got out of order when he offered a sacrifice to God. Offering this sacrifice was not for King Saul to do but was a task given to Samuel, a prophet. In this chapter, King Saul offered the sacrifice because Samuel had not yet arrived, but Samuel came as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering.
Another time, Saul was disobedient on the battlefield. He did not destroy the enemy as commanded by God, which resulted in God rejecting Saul as king and ultimately anointing David as the next King of Isreal.
King Saul’s issue is that he stopped being humble, relied on what He thought was best, and failed to listen to God’s command. Self-reliance causes us to go it alone, which is not what God wants. As our Father, He wants to shield and protect us, but we must be willing to obey.
Strive For God-Reliance Instead of Self-Reliance
God does not see self-reliance as a virtue to reach toward; instead, He wants us to be God-reliant. God does not want us to be boastful about anything we receive from Him as a gift, nor does He want us to be envious of others. He wants the glory for all He has created and all the blessings He has freely given.
Self-reliance causes unnecessary stress and sorrow, but God-reliance results in peace. We carry a tremendous and unnecessary load when we feel responsible for everything. The Lord invites us to bring all of our burdens to Him. He wants our hopes, dreams, and even our New Year resolutions. He wants us to ask for His help in everything.
As we learn to turn to Him for everything, we surrender to His ability to work out our situation correctly. He can provide us with all of Heaven’s resources to help. Sometimes, He may even allow others to come alongside us and share our burden, but we will never realize God’s help if we are stuck in self-reliance.
God sent His son Jesus, who died on the cross, rose again, and sent His Holy Spirit to help us live this life. Rather than try to manage anything by ourselves, we can look to Jesus. He will give us wisdom. He will strengthen us to achieve whatever we set out to do, not because we are strong, but because He is strong.
When we learn God-reliance rather than self-reliance, we are like a healthy branch growing fruit. Jesus tells us that we cannot live fruitful lives without living attached to God. In John 15:5, Jesus tells us that we can do nothing without Him. Two of the many fruits He can produce in our lives are peace and self-control. We must allow Him to help us bear fruit rather than rely on ourselves.
A Prayer For Turning From Self-Reliance to God-Reliance
As we review last year and press toward this next year, we must learn that we do not want to go it alone. God does not want us to. We should pray and ask God to help us with our goals and dreams. Imagine what would happen if we did. Let’s pray to turn from self-reliance to God-reliance.
