American Idols: Independence

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Americans pride themselves on their independence. That character quality played a significant role in our country's history: many early settlers sought independence from a state religion, our country's first formal government was established in order to declare our independence from a distant government, and our country's civil war has its roots in a struggle for independence. 

Americans have come to cherish independence in thought and action. But at what point does independence become an idol?

Dependence
Within the word, "independence" is the root word, "depend." Independence refers to a dependence on  self and in many respects, independence can be a positive benchmark of increasing maturity. From a child learning to walk, then transitioning out of diapers, followed by starting school, learning to drive and finally being able to manage one's own affairs, the ability to care for oneself is a worthy aim. As we grow in life skills, we graduate from a total dependence upon our parents in caring for our well-being into a self-governance of our life. But while it can be good to gain independence in order to carry out adult responsibilities, believers should never "graduate" from their dependence upon God. And woe to the society that believes themselves too enlightened to rely on or answer to God.

As Americans seek ever-increasing levels of independence--from government, from societal norms, from an accepted moral code, and from the Biblical foundations upon which our country was built, our country has strayed far from the truth. I find it interesting that the Bible that is now so vociferously maligned and disparaged, called out-of-date and irrelevant, accurately predicted the times in which we now live.  2 Timothy 4:3-4 says, 
"For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." (ESV)
Rather humbling to realize that we in our 21st century enlightenment are still falling for the same traps that first century Christians were. God has not changed, nor has his message changed. We are no more enlightened today than the people who attempted to build the Tower of Babel, thinking they could ascend to equality with God. We are equivalent to microscopic specks in the universe compared to God Almighty and yet man believes he is in control of his life and the universe. We may have harnessed some of nature's wind and energy stores, some of the mysteries of technology and the solar system but we will never harness the Lord nor understand even a fraction of His mind.

The really astounding truth is that an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent being has such an infinite love for his creation that He desires for us to depend on Him. John 15:5 explains the beauty of a dependency on Christ through the analogy of a vine, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me, and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing."  The fruit that the Lord wants to produce in us, is not the kind the world values such as wealth, fame, or physical beauty, but rather the increasing measure of Christlikeness in our life. 

If I am to become utterly dependent on the Lord, I must give Him first place in my life. I must order my life so that I am daily in His Word, learning about His character, His heart, and His will for my life. I must take the initiative to do the seeking. In Jeremiah 29:13, the Lord assures me that, "You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." He is a God that wants to be found by us. He wants us to draw near to Him. James 4:8a says, "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you..."

In order to be solely dependent upon God, we must seek to be independent from three threats to our walk with Christ. These are the world, the flesh, and the devil. 

Independent of the World

One of the enemies to our dependence on Christ, is the world. 1 John 2:15 admonishes us to be independent of the world: 
"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

Romans 12:2 tells us, "Do not be conformed to this world..." And James 4:4 puts it a bit more forcefully when he says, "You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." 

Are we making sure that our thoughts and behaviors are not shaped by the world's ideology and interests? The world has nothing of lasting substance to offer the follower of Christ. Matthew 16:26a pointedly asks the question, "For what will it a profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?" 

Are we truly independent of the world, or have we slowly allowed the world's values and its secular worldview to creep into our life causing us to question the validity and authority of the Word of God? 2 Corinthians 10:5 instructs Christians to "destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ." That means we must evaluate every opinion, every version of "man's wisdom" against the standard of the Word of God.

Independent of the Flesh

In addition to being independent of the world, believers are to be independent of the old fleshly man and its desires as we are reminded in Ephesians 4:20-23,

"But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God, has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth."

Ephesians 4:25-31 goes on to enumerate a number of vices that characterized our life before Christ. Things that Christians should be independent of such as: putting away falsehood, anger, stealing, unwholesome talk, as well as bitterness, wrath, slander, and malice.  Those qualities were part of our old life but Galatians 2:20 reminds the believer that, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."  Christ's work on the cross offers Christians not only forgiveness of sin, but the power to become independent from our old nature. Christ continues to sanctify us as long as we surrender to the Savior and daily lay our fleshly desires at the foot of the cross to be crucified with Him.

Galatians 5:19-21a enumerates some of the deeds of the flesh that we must lay down:

"Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like these."

In our culture that distinguishes crime on a continuum of seriousness, the idea that jealousy and fits of anger are as egregious as sexual immorality is rather convicting. And yet, it only takes one tiny speck of dirt to mar a pure garment. And it only takes one sin to establish one's guilt as James 2:10 makes clear: "For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it." There are no shades of purity, there is only pure and impure. And Christ is the only One to walk the earth and not sin.  Because he had no sin of his own to pay for, He alone was able to take on the punishment for sin that we rightly deserved. He secured our pardon but we must surrender to Him, repent, and receive His forgiveness. 

Last year, I became convicted of one particular fleshly weakness that had negatively impacted my life. with the help of a friend and a structured program, I decided to put aside the desires of the flesh in the arena of food. Addiction is always a cruel master--offering temporary pleasure but long-term bondage. You can read more about that journey in my post, "Welcome to This Pilgrim's Progress."  I still have other areas that I am now working on but I am grateful for freedom in that area. 

As Christians, we will daily have opportunities to lay aside the desires of the flesh. Daily opportunities to let our actions testify whether we love Christ above all other loves. Let us remember that only  dependence on Christ alone will result in freedom from the temptations of the flesh.

Independent of the Devil

And finally we must be independent of the devil.  1 Peter 5:8 warns believers to "[b]e sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." And the way to be independent of the devil is to resist him according to James 4:7b: "Resist the devil and he will flee."  But even before we resist, our first line of offense against Satan comes in the first part of James 4:7 when we are first advised to, "Submit yourselves therefore to God."  Which means that in order to be independent from the devil, we must first be dependent upon God.

Believers can be guilty of either overestimating Satan's power by attributing too much to his influence or we can underestimate his power and fail to prepare ourselves for battle. Ephesians 6:12 is very clear that believers are to be on the alert:

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." 

In a world of so much divisiveness, I can't help thinking that Satan and his demons must be having a heyday.  When we allow divisions to take our eyes off the Lord Jesus Christ, we have made Satan's work that much easier. We must remember that Satan is the Father of lies and from his very first appearance in Scripture as a serpent, one of his primary tactics has been to plant seeds of doubt in man's head by questioning what God said.  

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?'" Genesis 3:1

God had not said they could not eat of any tree, only that they must not eat of one particular tree. But Eve did not correct his lie and those seeds of doubt led to her downfall as well as her husband's. We may wonder how Adama and Eve could so easily be duped.  And yet, people today are still falling for that same tactic, questing, "Did God actually say"

  • Children are a blessing? Psalm 127:3 "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward." And yet Americans (sadly, even some Christians) have believed the lie that an unborn child can be murdered in the womb.
  • Sexual promiscuity is wrong? Hebrews 13:4 "Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulturous."  And yet even some Christians justify cohabitation and sexual intimacy before marriage.
  • There are only two genders? Mark 10:6 "But from beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.'"  Here Mark is quoting from the creation account in Genesis 1:27.  I never dreamed we would be living in a culture where the concept of male and female has been so vehemently challenged. The debate is not really about gender, it's about man wanting to be independent of God's governance.
We must be on our guard and commit to following the God of the Bible, not a god crafted in our own image. A god that man creates is but an idol and has no power to forgive sin, nor offer eternal life. Believer, we must be independent of the world, the flesh, and the devil and be on the alert--especially as the Word of God is daily being challenged and maligned.  According to Ephesians 6: 13, "Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm." 

Let us depend solely upon the One who created us to have a relationship with Him--God is the only firm ground upon which we can stand. The only One on whom we can completely depend. While on earth, we have but a foggy view of God and His holiness but one day, that view will be perfectly clear and what requires faith in this life will be an undisputed reality in the next. You can depend upon that! 

"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known."  1 Corinthians 13:12 (ESV)


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