Radical dependence

Dear Friends,

One of the most thought-provoking chapters in John Stott’s The Radical Disciple, which I wrote about last week, is titled ‘Dependence’. He points out that humanity’s desire and search for independence is disastrous:

The truth is that we are sinners who are dependent on God for his mercy and for his continuing grace. To attempt to live without him is precisely what is meant by sin. We also need one another.

That last sentence is important. Sadly, even professing Christians can behave as if they don’t need anyone else, and are dependent on no-one. Yet John Wyatt, Professor of Ethics and Perinatology at University College Hospital in London, is quite right when he says that, “God’s design for our life is that we should be dependent.”

And John Stott continues:

We are all designed to be a burden to others. You are designed to be a burden to me and I am designed to be a burden to you. And the life of the family, including the life of the local church family, should be one of ‘mutual burdensomness’. “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).

Those are counter-cultural words – and they will bring great relief and blessing to us and others if we take them seriously.

Yours in Christ,
Chris Hobbs