As the 4th of July, our nation’s Independence Day approaches, I believe there is an interesting paradox that exists today.
It is the idea of being free to think and act as we choose while being told what to do and think. Many people we see and hear are constantly preaching this message of independence.
The true irony is these people are actually “independently dependent”. What do I mean by that?
While thinking and saying things to validate their independence and seeing themselves as leading independent lives, they are actually submissive and subservient to the very things they rail against. They are pushing against a system that has given them the right to be independent while actively supporting a government that is slowly removing the right to independence from each of us, one directive at a time.
If you do not believe this is true, look at what has happened to our nation over the last few years. We see lawless being allowed while people who disagree are imprisoned. We see open borders while confining everyday people to their homes. We see violence being not only tolerated, but promoted, for what is determined to be a just cause.
Is this what independence looks like? I think not, in fact these actions and behaviors are moving us closer and closer to total dependence on the same government who is promoting and allowing this chaos to continue.
Being “independently dependent” is exactly where we are being led. If we can be made to believe we are living independent lives, while being told how to live them, we are not only losing our independence, but we are also becoming grossly dependent.
I have always been somewhat of a free thinker. It has cost me at times and not always endeared me to those around me. However, I do think it has garnered me their respect, and that is all I ask.
The fiercely independent nature that made Americans the envy of the world has been eroded to a “independently dependent” one, which is becoming somewhat of a laughingstock as we see our system and its leaders becoming a mockery to that same world.
As I have aged and grown closer to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, I have decided to become “independently dependent” on Him.
Is this difficult?
It is, but it allows me to understand the need for independence is limited by the powers and forces who dictate the way we should live and what we should do and think. For me, Jesus and the Word of God are the only consistent truth I can abide.
Do you see yourself as independent or dependent?
If it is the latter, do you know what it is you are depending on, and will it be there tomorrow when the powers that be change their tolerance for you and your cause to a totalitarian push for theirs?
Time will tell. On that you can depend!
Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
