Independence and Dependence

I read Brian's posting this morning about Independence Day, but wasn't inspired to write about that topic until later this morning when I went to the orphanage with Heather. Every week she does a Bible study with some of the women that work there.

One of the passages we looked at today was Col 1:13-17: "For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins...whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities: all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."

Two things really stood out to me. "In him all things hold together." And that includes our country. The USA isn't held together by the unity of our congressmen, our economic system, or our military. We enjoy the freedoms we enjoy because God has seen fit to hold our country together. With the attacks and events of the past few years, sometimes I catch myself worrying about whether the US will stay the same, if we'll lose our freedoms, etc. Then I realize that ultimately, none of those things will last. All earthly kingdoms will fall in the end. Jesus' kingdom is the only eternal kingdom. In John 18:36 Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world." I think sometimes it is easy to forget that. Not that I want to belittle our freedoms in any way (I should be more grateful for them than I generally remember to be) but I need to be reminded where my ultimate allegiance lies.

Ok, I've already kind of started into my second point, but here's the rest of my musings on the subject: "he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." Today as I read that I was struck by the image of being brought into a new kingdom. Even more than we won independence from Great Britain, Jesus has won for us independence from the power of sin. How great is that victory, yet how often do I really stop and think about what that means, and praise God for it.

One more thought and then I'll stop. I was thinking about our independence from sin, due to Jesus' work, and I was reminded that we are not altogether independent. Steven Curtis Chapman has a great song called, "Declaration of Dependence," all about how we need Jesus every day. "I was made for this dependency on the One who has created me." It's too easy some days to think I can do it on my own, I don't need help. Let me remember more often my total dependence on Jesus.