I’m still not used to it, yet. He’s been doing it for a while, but this morning my son jumped into the back seat of my truck, grabbed his seat belt, and buckled it all on his own. He doesn’t need my help anymore. He has achieved full independence in this life…okay, maybe my six-year-old still has a few things to learn before he can go out on his own. But there is no doubt that even in his short life, he’s taken several steps toward independence. Consider, as he grew from a baby to a toddler, he gradually learned how to walk, feed himself, and many other things. As he grew into an older child, he developed the ability to tie his own shoes, buckle his seat belt, read, and much more. As a teenager, he will learn to drive. In young adulthood, he will attempt to make his own living to the point where he becomes financially responsible for himself and independent of me.

It is a natural process of life to seek greater independence from our parents. But what about God? Do we sometimes feel that our finances, our marriage, our parenting, our habits, or our possessions are independent of God? We might not ever outright say that we are independent of God, but does our attitude or prayer life in these areas reflect that we sometimes believe we are independent in those areas?

Take a second to think of the many ways that your life depends on God at this very moment. Let me help you with a few: water, air, food, sunlight, temperature, bacteria in our body, our immune system…I could go on, but I think you get the picture. God can give us life because He is the only being that exists by His very nature. He is the uncaused cause, the self-existent one, the great I AM (cf. Ex. 3:13-14). John 5:26 says that God has life in Himself. That’s different from us because we were created and only continue to exist because God sustains us in every way (cf. Col. 1:16-17).

We don’t possess life by our nature. It was given to us. From the time of Adam, it was God who gives the breath of life (Gen. 2:7). It was not simply flesh and blood, organs or air that caused Adam to live. It was God. But God did not stop at life on earth, it is also only by Him that I have hope of eternal life. John says, “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. The one who has the Son has life. The one who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1st John 5:11-12).

My son will hopefully grow into a fully functioning adult, able to survive independent of me. But He will never be independent of God. In fact, the more we grow as Christians, the more we should learn to depend on Him. I have an inner desire to be independent, but in reality, I depend on God for everything—including my very existence on this earth, and my eternal fate. Do you have the Son of God in your life? You MUST to inherit life eternal. And if you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then center your life on Him, because everything is His anyway—including you.

God bless,

Obie

____________________________________________________________________________________________

NOTE: If there is an advertisement below, it is not related to this post or website.

Advertisement