Self-Reliance
by John Sainsbury
When you read a verse like today’s verse, I wonder how it makes you feel? It’s certainly a challenging verse, but then didn’t Jesus often say incredibly challenging things?
As I’ve reflected on this verse, certainly in the light of the teaching we give at Ellel ministries, I have been wondering what aspect of ourselves Jesus is calling us to deny.
Does He want us to deny our very core identity? Are we being asked to somehow be someone we’re not? I don’t think that fits with His teachings elsewhere that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Why would God make us so unique, so intricate and marvellous, then expect us seek to be something we are not?
So, what is it then that Jesus is seeking of us?
We talk a great deal about the reality of 1 Thessalonians 5:23, which talks about our whole person being kept blameless, which Paul expounds as including our spirit, soul and body. We teach often about how our human spirit, the core of who we are, can be crushed from a very tender age causing us to rise up in our soul, which we speak of as including our mind, our will and our emotions. It’s the place that I think of as being the place of self-reliance. Maybe, as a child, others didn’t come through for us, and that can lead us to think that, if nobody else is going to take care of us, we’ll need to do it ourselves. Or, if nobody else is going to protect us, we’ll need to protect ourselves.
In the light of that, maybe what Jesus is saying here makes much more sense. He’s the one who said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” How will we find rest for our souls if they are constantly seeking to provide for us, protect us, and to be self-reliant?
Maybe what Jesus is saying here is an acknowledgement that, in the past, we’ve needed to live that way to survive. But, if we allow Him to be our true Lord, then we need not live that way any longer. Rather He invites us to surrender to His care, and to let go of the need to rely on ourselves. He offers to give us more life than we can fully appreciate, but that can only come when we fully and completely surrender to Him, and when we lay down our self-reliance!
John Sainsbury and his wife Sue are part of the leadership team at Ellel Grange. John has served as a church leader for many years, most recently as Lead Pastor of the Garstang Free Methodist Church. He has a passion for seeing many brought into the fulness of life that following Christ brings.
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