Pastor Chicken Wing is a name that will be hard to escape. For those of you who do not know, last Saturday, I ended up dislocating my arm for the second time playing basketball. *Insert joke about being made of glass.* I am thankful for all the prayers and concern this past week. One of the things that have been incredibly evident to me this past week is how reliant I am on two working arms. Having to rely on others to help you do so many things you ordinarily do without issue has been hard to work through, but that got me thinking about what reliance is reasonable in our lives. We don’t like having to rely on others, but in life, some areas are crucial for us to rely on things outside of ourselves.
The first area of reliance we need to remember is our reliance on the Word of God. As believers, you and I have the most incredible resource available to us - God’s Word given to us. When it comes to understanding life and how we should live, we must develop dependence and reliance on Scripture. We are guided by it, and we must submit and allow it to control how we live. Jesus himself stressed the importance of Scripture by equating it to the very concept of life in Matt 4:4. Just like food sustains our physical life, the Word of God sustains our spiritual life.
The second area of reliance for us as believers is reliance on the Spirit. We, as humans, feel the natural urge to rely on our strength and abilities to overcome the different obstacles we face. However, as a believer, we must realize that we are weak. Our flesh pushes us to indulge our sins and reject the truth of God. Our pride wants us to view relying on the Spirit and His power as a weakness or embarrassing. Yet, Scripture reminds us that this is the wisest and most helpful attitude we can hold. Reliance on the Spirit should be the natural position of a believer (Romans 8:11-14).
Lastly, we must learn to rely on our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. In our culture, no one wants to be viewed as “charity” or “needy” by others, yet as believers, part of our responsibility to each other is to meet each other’s needs. Scripture is so clear that as members of Christ’s church, we are responsible for caring for each other and pushing each other toward spiritual accountability. It is not a weakness to rely on fellow believers for accountability, encouragement, or support. It is precisely what we are all called to do.
So when you are tempted to flaunt your independence and be filled with pride and arrogance about how little you need to rely on anyone else, stop. Please take a minute and consider all the ways we are called to rely on others for our spiritual health.
Sincerely,
Pastor Derek Whitman