Episode 8—Self-reliance, Dependency, and God-reliance
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Self-reliance, Dependency, and God-reliance
By Bernard Dozier
Upon what or whom do we rely? The answer has everything to do with our confidence and contentment.
For the first two decades of our lives we rely on others for almost everything. After that, most of us become so self-reliant that we may think that we’re making all the good things happen all by ourselves... Self-reliance can become an Ego Trip at that point. If we get cocky and proud and self-centered, self-reliance changes from a positive to a negative.
For most of us self-reliance is a positive, constructive thing and it stays that way as long as realize that our human self is partnered with our spiritual Self...and I like “self” with a lower case s to represent my humanity and an upper-case S to represent my Spiritual nature.
Dependency is the opposite of self-reliance. The ideal is to become reliant on God, but not dependent on God, because Dependency lacks two things: motivation and responsibility.
If we live by the water and have a boat and fishing tackle we can rely on God by going out fishing until we catch our next meal. Depencency, on the other hand, sits in the boat and waits for fish to jump in it.
Rely on God, the very principle of Goodness. God is what we call our Source and Resource...our full and infinite reservoir of blessings without number. But that divine reservoir is like water impounded behind a dam. It only quenches the thirst of those who are self-reliant enough to turn on the tap.
We find God more reliable as we exchange our dependency for self-reliance. That’s because God was wise enough to give us His intelligence, and the more we can figure out for ourselves, the more creative we become.
God loves everyone, but some think He favors those who use His wisdom and intelligence. It isn’t that God plays favorites, but He can do more good through self-reliant, motivated people than He can through passive, dependent people.
As Jesus pointed out, God lovingly provides for all, just as the sun shines on all, but to the self-reliant He adds the delight of partnership, and the joy of co-creation, which is the companionship that God relies upon in His sons and daughters.
