Over the last few days, I have found myself pondering the meaning of independence. I celebrate the blessings that come with living in a country that has the freedoms that America provides as a result of independence.
And while we have incredible freedom to worship, travel, and express our opinions in America, as Christians is independence a Biblical value? In other words, does God value the idea of His followers being totally independent of one another? A section of a letter to a church answers this question for us:
"For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit...And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it." 1 Corinthians 12:12-13; 26-27
As followers of Jesus, while we should be grateful for our independence as a nation and the freedoms we possess as a result, we should strive to be interdependent as members of a Bible believing church that follows Jesus as Lord and Leader. We are divinely designed to be in relationship with God and to be in interdependent relationships with one another.
When we choose to be either independent or dependent when it comes to our relationship with God and others, however, we end up living outside of how we were designed to be.
So how are you striving to live you life as a Christian in light of the freedom that we have been blessed with in America? As someone who is totally dependent upon others? As someone who is totally independent of others? Or as someone who is involved in an interdependent community of Christ followers?
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