Self-Sufficiency with Christine Gordon and Hope Blanton
Today we’re continuing our current series, Blind Spots, by talking about a particularly sneaky one—self-sufficiency. For many of us the desire to “do it ourselves” and be independent can be incredibly strong, but today our friends Hope Blanton and Christine Gordon of At His Feet Studies are going to help us understand the beauty of dependence.
In case you don’t know them, Hope Blanton is wife to Ray and mother of three. She earned her master's in clinical social work at Temple University. And she works as a counselor in San Antonio. Christine Gordon is wife to Michael and mother of three. She earned her Master of Arts in Theological Studies at Covenant Seminary.
We pray this conversation encourages you to lift your eyes from yourself, to release your grip on all the things you strive to do, and to look instead to Christ, whose grace is enough to sufficiently meet your every need.
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
How would you define the “blind spot” of self-sufficiency?
What might this look like in our lives? What are some ways we might be prone to rely on ourselves instead of relying on God?
When we’re relying on ourselves, what are we expressing? What are we saying when we decide to rely on ourselves instead of fully relying on God?
If we know that our God is sufficient to meet all our needs in Christ Jesus, why do we still struggle with being self-reliant?
What did God intend for us instead? What might it look like to rely on the Lord while we tackle our to-do list?
How can we begin to accept our limits and trust God more?
How are these limits actually a gift to us and to others?
What would it look like to begin our day by forsaking the illusion of our competency and self-sufficiency and cast ourselves yet again on the Lord and his all-sustaining grace?
How can we come alongside one another and encourage each other to embrace our God-given limits for the glory of God?
NOTEWORTHY QUOTES
“We think we can do it all on our own, that we don’t need help from anybody—friends, family, or God. And in particular, we don’t think we need help from God for the regular things that God has called us to.” - Hope
“We’re dependent on God in all the areas, and self-sufficiency tells us the lie that we aren’t, and that we don’t need to be.” - Hope
“We think there are these separate categories—here’s the category where over here I don’t need God, I’ve got this, and then here’s the category over here where I’ll ask him for things. But no, they’re all in the ‘we need help category.’ We just don’t function that way.” - Hope
“We don’t think about the fact that God is literally holding all things together—but he is!” - Chris
“People feel like they need to take care of every part of themselves—physically, emotionally, spiritually—managing all of it. That Jesus saves them but they’ve got to take it from there. Versus realizing that you can go to God with all the things and ask for practical wisdom and advice from the Holy Spirit about all those little things that you feel like you’ve got to be in charge of.” - Hope
“We are made to be dependent. This is what the Bible says about humans. God made Adam and Eve, put them in the garden, gave them everything they needed, and also gave them limits. He made them to live as dependent creatures. So when we rely only on ourselves and try to be self-sufficient, what we’re doing is rejecting the created order of God. It’s an unbiblical anthropology.” - Chris
“It’s hard to believe that it’s not shameful to need help, that God actually loves us and wants to give it. It feels too good to believe.” - Chris
“We get in our heads that the goal is independence—that if I get really mature and grow up, I won’t need these other people. But that is false. The goal is intimacy, and it always was. So when we’re trying to work our way out of that need, that is a false goal.” - Chris
“God intends us to talk to him about everything, not just things that we would call spiritual.” - Hope
“You have these limits as a finite human, and you were never meant to be limitless. We need to name what our limits are and realize that God has allowed them and that they are not the enemy. The goal is in the midst of all of those to learn to commune with him…to welcome him in and to let him be with you and change you. Dependency is the goal.” - Chris
“God uses our limits to create intimacy with him…he also uses them to push us to a vulnerable place with others—this is what community is designed for. Our limits push against self-sufficiency, and they push us towards God and his people. They make us closer to him.” - Hope
“God has designed us for dependence, so he’s going to push us towards him and his people with our limits in order to make us more intimate with him and others and to grow us in our knowledge of him.” - Hope
“Leaning away from self-sufficiency and into God and into understanding your limits and being okay with them is actually bringing you closer to him.” - Hope
“When we’re the most powerless, that’s when we find God.” - Chris
“We have to start with the assumption of need. And sometimes we feel that need and sometimes we don’t, but it’s always there.” - Chris
“We need to ask for help. We have to be vulnerable.” - Chris
“Your need for other people’s encouragement is not sinful. You were made to need other people. What those needs do is they pull you back into your lane as a human. They’re like guardrails; they keep you on the highway of humanity. And it does feel like rejection, but that is not you failing somehow; that is you being human. To live as dependent creatures, part of that means we’re going to have to ask for help.” - Chris
“Part of growing and being able to say no and live within your limits and know that you have them and can trust God with them, is knowing that he is the sovereign one who will work in people’s hearts, not you. He uses us, but it is his world, his ministry, his church, his spirit.” - Chris
“As we grow in our belief that God will do what he has promised for all these people and all their needs, it helps us to let him do his work and not take responsibility for the things that he has not called us to do. And that is a hard thing, but he is sufficient and he loves them more than you do.” - Chris
RESOURCES MENTIONED
At His Feet Studies Bible studies by Chris and Hope
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
SIMPLE JOYS OF WALKING IN DEPENDENCE
Chris:
Sleep—my daily nap
Coffee in the morning
The limit of not being able to over-schedule our family
Hope:
Having quick access to God
Slowing down and sitting outside
Cuddling my dogs
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What does the pull of self-sufficiency look like in your life?
What are we essentially saying when we decide to rely on ourselves instead of fully relying on God?
How might you come alongside someone else in their limits or encourage someone else to embrace their God-given limits for the glory of God?
What might it look like for you to rely on the Lord while you tackle your to-do list today?
What might you do or implement based on what you learned in this week’s episode?
IMPORTANT NOTE
Journeywomen interviews are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select guests each week, interviews do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the interviewee or any other resources mentioned.
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