My Declaration of Dependence

I’ve always loved the Stephen Curtis Chapman song, Declaration of Dependence. It challenges my natural desire to declare independence from my own need to control and decide and make my own way.

Now, there are things I want to be independent from, like:

peer pressure
lust of the flesh & eyes and the boastful pride of life (1 John 2:16)
the constant need for more: money, fame, followers, friends, stuff
need for affirmation and appreciation

But, to even accomplish the above I am going to need to be DEPENDENT of something other than myself.

Dependent In The Storms of Life

The world feels a bit crazy these days. Uncertainty and disagreements rule the day. Wars rage on several continents. Super powers are arming up and getting cozy in ways that could shift the world’s powers for decades to come.

These facts help me realize how little independence I really have. I’m subject to factors I have no control over.

But, I’m grateful to live in the USA with our history and traditions of freedom, opportunity, and ability to change what we don’t like. I’m not claiming a perfect history, by any means. But, I’ve read a LOT of history of nations in my lifetime, and I’ve never found another country who had it any better. We have big black marks on us, but we also still have more opportunity than anywhere else.

On this July the 4th, my daily Bible reading fell in Acts 27, where Paul, as a prisoner with no control over his circumstances, finds himself in a boat being driven by storms, with death seemingly imminent. While the rest of the ship’s occupants panicked, Paul rested in “the God to whom I belong and whom I serve“ (Acts 27:23b, NASB95)

I BELONG to the Lord and I SERVE Him. That means I am DEPENDENT.