Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope

Joni Eareckson Tada: Welcome to Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope.

Joni Eareckson Tada: If you have ever gone through some sort of rehabilitation process, then you know it's hard work.

Joni Eareckson Tada: That may mean something to you if you have suffered a debilitating injury, or if you've gone through a hip or a knee surgery, or slogged your way through physical therapy and rehab. It means a lot to me.

Joni Eareckson Tada: As I look back on my years of rehabilitation, both my physical and occupational therapist wanted me to be as independent as possible. They worked hard. They worked me hard so I could learn to feed myself, push my wheelchair a little bit at least, even draw holding pencils between my teeth.

Joni Eareckson Tada: There wasn't much I could do as a quadriplegic, but those things I could do, I did them with a go-get-em attitude. And when I was released from almost a year of rehab, I was determined to be independent. I did not want anyone's help, thank you very much.

Joni Eareckson Tada: Now, that may be an admirable attitude, when you're new to a wheelchair and learning to do as many things as you can for yourself. It's important to be independent in that respect.

Joni Eareckson Tada: But to be honest, the Bible warns us about spiritual independence. Having a prideful, independent mindset can get you into trouble. My friend Paul David Tripp has something to say about this. He says, "Independence is what the serpent sold Adam and Eve."

Joni Eareckson Tada: "And independence is the reward that the enemy continues to wave in front of each one of us every day." At some time and in some way, we will all buy into the delusion of independence. The lie of independence is designed to make me believe that I'm wiser and more righteous than I am.

Joni Eareckson Tada: It makes me think I'm a mature person living in the colony of the immature. It causes me to reason that if I do bad things, I do them not because of what's inside of me, but because of the pressures I'm forced to deal with that are outside of me.

Joni Eareckson Tada: Wow. What true words. Paul Tripp is so right. Because we all like to think that we really are wiser and more righteous than we really are. Living independently from the word of God creates this false illusion that we are mature. When really, we're anything but.

Joni Eareckson Tada: We are not capable, we are not okay. Because left to ourselves, even if we are Christians, we become enslaved, we become addicted to a list of things that we look to for hope and strength, life and rest.

Joni Eareckson Tada: But all those things, hope, strength, life, and rest, can only come from a dependent, obedient relationship with God. And I guess this is where you and I really need rehabilitation because you and I are people in desperate need of help.

Joni Eareckson Tada: And even though I have known the Lord Jesus for many decades, I am still dependent on him. I am still the child, a lowly, weak, needy child of God. And it's why I'm grateful for this wheelchair. Every day my disability reminds me how dependent I am, especially on the Lord.

Joni Eareckson Tada: And every time I start to feel a little independent, like I got this Christian thing figured out, like I know the lay of the land, I know what God expects of me, so I just move forward into life under my own steam. Every time I have that independent mindset, I feel miserably, and a deep loneliness comes over me, and I go running back to Jesus.

Joni Eareckson Tada: So when it comes to your deepest spiritual needs, don't run after the delusion of independence, rehabilitate your thinking when it comes to doing everything on your own. Run to the Lord Jesus, on whom your dependence rests, for hope, life, strength, and rest can only be found in him.

Joni Eareckson Tada: And hey, if you need more inspiration, you just have to go to Joniradio.org for even more of Joni's biblical encouragement.