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.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
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.
My Declaration of Dependence
I am DEPENDENT upon Him to whom I belong:
1 Corinthians 6:19b-20 - You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
If Jesus bought me with His blood, I am His and can’t do whatever I want. I obey my Master.
I am DEPENDENT on the Lord who gives me life:
Acts 17:28a - for "'In him we live and move and have our being'“
All of my life depends on Jesus, so I am DEPENDENT on Him.
I am DEPENDENT on the Spirit to help me live the life that Jesus gives:
Galatians 5:22-23 - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Independently, I cannot walk in these fruits. They result from DEPENDING on the Holy Spirit in me.
I am DEPENDENT on the Lord for peace in this crazy world:
John 16:33 - I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."
Regardless of turmoil that surrounds me, I can have peace IN Jesus.
Decide: Who Will You Depend On?
I am choosing today, July the 4th, 2022, Independence Day, to declare my DEPENDENCE on the Lord. I am wholly, completely, irrevocably DEPENDENT on Him.
I don’t want to rely on myself anymore. And guess what -that sets me FREE from myself!
What glorious freedom.