Thursday 29 October 2009

SELF-SUFFICIENCY

'We all like to think of ourselves as more independently capable than we actually are. We weren't created to be independent, autonomous, or self-sufficient. We were made to live in a humble, worshipful, and loving dependency upon God and in a loving and humble dependency on others. Our lives were designed to be community projects. Yet, the foolishness of sin tells us we have all that we need within ourselves. So we settle for relationships that never go beyond the casual. We defend ourselves when people around us point out a weakness or a wrong. We hold struggles within, not taking advantage of the resources that God has given us. The lie of the garden was that Adam and Eve could be like God, independent and self-sufficient. We still tend to buy into that lie.'
Paul David Tripp, Whiter than snow: meditations on sin and mercy, p.147.