Self-reliance

I love that God has placed me in Mosaic partly because Mosaic’s ministry isn’t just to make good music (though that is obviously one of our main goals and priorities), but somewhat surprisingly, we are realizing that God has intended for Mosaic to also be a teaching ministry. We are called to sing and teach the Word of God. It has really boosted a sense of purpose in my life, because as God was revealing His vision for this ministry He was also personally showing me how much music already has teaching impact on peoples lives. People sing about what they believe…we aren’t the only ones to discover this…there are many many artists that intentionally sing about their world view and beliefs; and these artists use their music as a way to persuade their audiences to adopt their values, world-views, and beliefs. It’s really hard not to buy into a song without also buying into what it is saying…even if you don’t realize that you are accepting it’s message…often times the emotions brought about by music mixed with the message of the lyrics have an intoxicating effect on our understanding of things.

So…didn’t really mean to say all that in this post…but there you go…:)

Anyway, the real purpose of this post is to share with you an experience I had earlier this week at one of our shows. My good bud Patrick wrote this awesome song called “Don’t Lose Heart” and before singing it he shares about what happened in his heart when he found out a couple years ago that he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. He normally shares about how God revealed to him this tendency to be self-reliant and how that is a sin in our lives. In His mercy, Patrick says that God allowed Him to go through this trial of MS in order to teach Him to rely on God. I normally follow that up with a song and teaching about pride and self-concern and how it has been destructive for man-kind from the very beginning…but how Jesus leads us down a road of humility and death to self so that we can have true life again.

Afterwards, I had a college professor come up to me at our table. He said that we did a good job, but He had a problem with one of our philosophies. He was very nice about it, but he voiced his concern about us calling self-reliance a sin. I was actually really appreciative because we want to make sure that we are thinking through what we are saying and teaching in order to be accurate and clear. It’s important that we don’t teach something false.

Anyway, as a college professor, his concern was that to say self-reliance was a sin and thus “a bad thing,” meant that someone could be led to think that “self-confidence” or “drive” or “hard work” were “bad things.” He mentioned how the pilgrims, our founding Fathers, had to be self-reliant to build our nation. He mentioned how as parents you want your kids to grow up to be self-reliant. He even pointed out that as a group we showed up and relied on our gifting and talents in order to perform that night.

At first, I was genuinely trying to evaluate if we needed to start rephrasing or clarifying what we were teaching…but the more we talked the more I became convinced of the importance of viewing self-reliance as a sin. Here is why:

1.) Hard work is important. The Word of God talks often about the importance of work and not being lazy. (Proverbs 13:4) But we still can’t truly rely on our work. Our founding fathers weren’t self-reliant….they worked hard just as farmers work hard…but God is the one that causes growth.

He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the labor of man, so the he may bring forth food from the earth.

Psalm 104:14

I [Paul] planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.

1 Corinthians 3:6

Both physically and spiritually we can work with all our might, but ultimately we rely on God to cause growth. Even if we don’t realize that we are relying on God…we are relying on God for everything. Self-reliance is a sin because it is faulty thinking. Sin is destructive in our lives and causes separating between us and God. Self-reliance is destructive thinking because it doesn’t reflect the reality of life. We are reliant on God for every breath. For every heartbeat. It’s best that our thinking aligns with the reality because knowing the truth brings rest and freedom to our hearts.

2.) God has given us gifts and talents that we are called to use…but just like with work…they are put to the best use when we truly remember that they are gifts. Sometimes, we get carried away with our own abilities that we get prideful in our hearts because we think that we can rely on ourselves. The tower of Babel is a great example. They thought they could reach God by their own abilities. Patrick and Emily in our group are also great examples of this. For a time, the Lord caused Emily to lose her voice due to vocal damage. Emily has one of the best voices I’ve ever heard! Why did that happen? Well, during that time, Emily realized just how much she couldn’t rely on herself. Her voice is a gift from God. Emily didn’t create her vocal chords, God created them. He gives and takes away. Both are done in His mercy. Patrick has little control over his health and his body. Though God gave them to Patrick, God is still the one in control of Patrick’s body. It’s best for Emily, Patrick, and all of us to remember to rely on God…because we can have confidence and rest in Him. He raises people from the dead. He heals. Who else has that kind of control and power? My God does, and He loves me. I know that He will work all things (even the bad) for my good. I will rely on Him.

3.) I’m tempted to say that self-reliance is a cultural thing for us. As Americans, self-reliance is a part of our culture. It seems really offensive then to call self-reliance a bad thing. However, the more I think about it the more I realize that I don’t necessarily think that it is a cultural thing as much as it is a human nature thing. The Word of God  and history both document the many people groups that grew and took pride in the work of their owns only for it to become their own demise. Israel, God’s chosen people was often found guilty, as a people, for relying on themselves and forgetting to rely on God though He provided for them over and over. He parted the sea for them, He gave them manna and quail, He lead them by cloud and fire…and still Israel struggled with not fully relying on God, but relying on themselves. As Americans, it is a radical, crazy, weird thing to truly and fully rely on God. It seems foolish…but in reality it’s foolish to rely on ourselves. He is constantly putting His people in positions in which they need to rely on Him…and when they do rely on Him…He always proves Himself faithful. Think of Gideon. God taught Gideon and the people of Israel not to rely on the might and strength of  great army…but to rely on the strength and might of God. He will fight for us. He will provide for us. He will deliver us.

The college professor and I had a great talk and he is in no way my enemy and I’m not his enemy. We provided food for thought for each other, and as brothers in Christ, iron to iron, I think we sharpened one another (I feel sharpened!). As we talked we gained more and more understanding of each other, and in many ways we ended up on the same page. He was concerned mostly that to not be self-reliant meant that we lose our confidence and belief in our ability. However, I believe based on the Word of God and my own experience, that relying on God gives us greater confidence and belief in our ability…it’s just that you have to remember the source. All things (besides God) have a source. I am not the source of myself. All life, breath, energy, and goodness flows from God who is the Author, Creator, and Sustainer of all things.

I know this has been long…but I hope that it gives you a lot of reasons to realize your need to rely on God and not yourself. I’m purely talking about your attitude and mindset…because in reality you already DO rely on God. It’s just better for you and I if we live in reality.

I believe self-reliance to be a sin because I believe that our true enemy, the deceiver wants to fool us into trusting in ourselves more than we trust in God. I believe he deceives us in this way because He is trying to destroy us. It isn’t right or good for us to trust in ourselves or rely on ourselves…but in all things to rely on God, to remember God as the source, and to thank and praise Him for being the source and foundation of all life, including ours.

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