Mandi, an AIM member, Bible Assessor, and former missionary in Chad reflects on the importance of growing in dependence on Christ and the delight it brings.
As humans, we have such a desire for measurable objectives, don’t we? At the top of a teacher’s lesson plans is written, “Student will be able to…” followed by the instructional goals of the lesson. At the start of a new year, we name how we want to grow. A runner has a time in their mind as they endure through a race, pushing to the finish line, wondering if the workouts completed were enough to meet their goal.
Are there measurable objectives in the life of a disciple? In the life of a missionary?
His calling is into deeper dependence
There are such layers to explore in the Scriptures. As we learn, questions arise and mystery can abound in this walk, so what do we do? We keep trusting, we keep abiding.
As we abide and trust through difficulty, we have the opportunity to enter into the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings, into a deeper dependence on Him.
Abiding and trusting has taken our family to some amazing places, sustained us in mundane rhythms, and led us into some really difficult seasons as well. I have found dependence to be a gift, this place of knowing God as the only one who could redeem a situation, the only one who could bring order from chaos, fullness from empty, light from darkness.
We know that God is faithful. As His children, we get to experience the same faithfulness we see in the Scriptures, the same faithfulness we see in history, but when past seasons feel like scorched dreams, when seeds planted with hope, and watered with tears don’t grow, how do I measure my growth as a disciple?
Dependence: the state of relying on or being controlled by someone or something else.
Dependence as a gift and a measure
I have found dependence on Christ to be a gift, and also a way to measure my growth as a believer. With dependence on Himself as the goal, Christ holds out an invitation into deeper dependence on Him as we walk through trials.
Philippians 3: 7- 11 (esv), reminds us that we don’t suffer for sufferings sake, suffering actually brings us closer to Christ and molds us into His image. We have the joy of entering in, of depending, of seeing from the deepest depths the way of His upside down kingdom.
We simply were not made to be independent
I often want to measure growth and maturity by independence. I want to measure how I am doing as a disciple by my own strength, wisdom, or ability to carry out a task. The path that Christ has called us to is the way of dependence, the release of our own achievements, the way of fully leaning into Him. We depend on His strength and ability, and we trust in Him alone for redeeming and resurrecting.
When we apply the truths of the gospel to our lives, we repent not just of our sin, but of our dependence on self to save! There is such delight in depending on Christ alone to save us, to lead us, and to keep us through suffering. This dependence has sounded like a breath prayer, "God, only you could bring life here," as we left family and dear friends on both sides of the ocean, entered into new languages and cultures, depended on the generosity of our neighbors for learning a whole new way of life, and even as we boarded a re-patriation flight back to the States, heartbroken after only months of leading an outreach team we had prepared years for.
In those difficult moments and seasons, it was so tempting to measure maturity by our strength, willingness, or grit, but instead we had to learn to measure growth by the question, “Am I more dependent on Jesus?”
Recently as AIM candidates sat in the U. S. home office here in Georgia where our family now lives, the question was asked of several missionaries on a panel, “What do you wish you had known when you first left for the field?” I answered by saying there is such importance in preparation and AIM does well in equipping new appointees for the field, but what I wish I had known, in spite of much preparation, was how unprepared I actually was for the task ahead!
This was simply because I was still dependent on myself. God, in His great kindness, was quick to bring me to the end of myself, and to teach me my need for continual dependence on Him. We never outgrow our need to grow in dependence!
_______________________________________________________________
Pray.
Ann Judson, a missionary to the Burmese people in the early 1800s, wrote at length about dependence on Christ and echoes themes of Paul’s words from Philippians 3. She says, “He is the fountain of all grace, and if he has designed me to be a promoter of his cause, among those who know him not, he can qualify me for the work, and enable me to bear whatever he is pleased to inflict. I am fully satisfied, that difficulties and trials are more conducive than ease and prosperity to promote my growth in grace, and cherish a habitual sense of dependence on God.”
May we grow in his grace, may we measure our growth by our dependence on Christ, and may we cherish the deepening of that dependence.
Interested in Serving?
Explore more here
Mandi and her husband joined AIM in 2011, and have added four boys through birth and adoption to their family since then. They have had the joy of being on a TIMO (Training in Ministry and Outreach) team in Chad, and serving as team leaders. They now work with the US Home Office, where Mandi serves on the team of Bible Assessors. Mandi loves studying Biblical Theology, tracing the unfolding themes in Scripture, and encouraging appointees in their Biblical literacy before they head to the field.