Daily Dependence – Real Independence
As we celebrate Independence Day, let us also remember our daily dependence. The greater our dependence on one another, on God’s Word and on Christ, the more independent we become from selfish motivations, from deceptive independence and from self-defeating faults and frailties.
While highly treasuring our independence, we need not under-value our dependence on each other. Although some people may attribute freedom to the Second Amendment – “the right to bear arms,” much greater liberty is achieved by following the second Commandment – “Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matthew 22:39), and the right to “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2). We depend on one another for civility; otherwise we descend to an environment of violence. We count on one another for respect; else we suffer incalculable injustices. By exercising our interdependence we are realizing real independence from selfish motivations.
While acquiring the independence of wealth and resources, we must depend on the deep principles of God’s Word to gain real freedom. “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). The truth that love “bears all things” (I Cor. 13:7) can lift from us the overbearing weight of hate. His truth that “the merciful shall obtain mercy” can emancipate us from the constraints of biased personal perspectives (Matthew 5:7). By dependence on the deep truths of God’s Word we are gaining independence from the shallow deceptions of self-reliance.
While the quest for independence is luring, the pursuit of dependence on Christ is liberating. He makes us “free indeed” (John 8:36). Our dependence on Him makes us less reliant on our flawed ways of thinking, and less likely to persist in our errant ways of acting. By depending on Christ we are independent from our self-defeating faults and frailties.
May God bless us to practice daily dependence on one another, on God’s Word and on Christ as we celebrate Independence Day. May God bless the Schrader Lane Church of Christ