Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Forsaking our independence


Our country was founded partially because of a document called the Declaration of Independence.  I find it interesting that as Americans this could almost be our national motto now.

Americans are known for individualism and freedom.  We love it.  We are caught up in the idea of our own rights.  We love freedom.  We love opportunity.  We love independence and so we declare independence.

But God has called the people of God to be different.  We are citizens of the kingdom of God first and secondly to the USA.  As a result, we are to declare our dependence instead of our independence. 

We are dependent on God.  We are dependent on others.

God calls His people to forsake individualism and embrace community.  This is what makes the church distinct.  People living life together.  People making decisions together.  People care for the need of others together.  I could say: people spending their own  money to provide food or healthcare for others, but then you might think that I am getting political.

This is not about politics.  This is about the church putting a proper value on community.  We have bought into the lie of indivualism.  We have made our declaration of independence.   We need to repent and declare that we are dependent.

Are you caught up in the American value of independence?

2 comments:

Jesse Curtis said...

Great post Kevin! This is the kind of thing that gets deep roots in us before we even realize it. Now we're left trying to unlearn it one day at a time.

Thanks for the phone call. We're doing pretty well and I'm optimistic about hearing from a job opportunity very shortly.

Unknown said...

Yes, I have been trying to detox for a long time, but it is very hard and I often fall back into the pattern of independence.