Independence Day

Man that sounds like a good title for a movie. Despite that little attempt at humor, today has been July 4th. It is a day when we spend time with friends and family, celebrating the independence that our country declared for itself in 1776. What a day that was for those brave men, women, and children.

That same independence has been taught to each of us. You know what I mean, that idea that there is no one else that we can depend on. So, we must become independent, not relying on anyone or anything else other than ourselves. Our schools teach it from kindergarten through our graduate schools. Only recently have we begun to teach "team" and working together to get a complicated task completed.

When I think about my faith, I have to think that God does not ask me to be independent, but fully dependent. He asks us to place all our faith in Jesus, God's one and only Son. He asks us to sell out completely so that we have nothing else, relying totally upon Him. The only independence I find in the Scripture is that we are to be so dependent upon God that we are fully independent of the world.

And there's the rub. Society teaches independence because Satan is the temporary ruler of the earth. He does not want us to be dependent on God alone. Rather, he prefers us to feel we are independent, that we don't need anyone else other than ourselves, including He who created us.

I've been speaking with several couples who, at some point, felt like they could make their marriages work all on their own. Fortunately a couple of these couples were married and that institution meant something to both of them. They have returned to the root of marriage and God has restored those relationships. Are they perfect? I doubt it. They are still made up of two human beings who still want to be in control, independent, and in charge of what they do with their lives. But at least they have begun to worship and pray together. They have made God the third member of the marriage. Others were trying to play husband and wife without the blessings of God, without the commitment that comes with the ceremony and the certificate.

Point is, independence is great for a country, even a business. We need that. As a country we don't want or need to be relying upon some other country to keep us above water. But as individuals it is a different story. In order to truly live free and happy lives, we must be fully dependent upon God, fully dependent on what Jesus did for on the cross, and fully dependent on the relationship that Jesus affords us with the Father.

As we remember July 4th, I pray we celebrate the independence of our great country and our dependence upon our Lord and Savior, Jesus.