INDEPENDENCE the forgotten sin
I have been contemplating this character flaw lately. I was independent from birth being 13, 11 and 9 years younger than my siblings, another first born to the family and born to older parents. Born to an alcoholic father and co-dependent mother, independence was inevitable.
I learned early to do it myself, that you can't depend on anyone. My strong personality added to this problem, which I never knew was a problem...society tells us to raise kids to be independent, to think for themselves. I thought I was pretty clever learning to do almost everything so I would not have to ask for help and take the chance someone would do it wrong!! But all of this is in direct opposition to the Word of God and what He expects of us.
The original sin was independence. Eve failed to believe God and did not trust Him and what He had told her. She decided to act independent of God. Satan himself committed the same sin when he said in Isaiah 14:13 "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest side of the North; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High God.” And we all know where that independence landed him….
The entire aspect of faith is dependence on God. Total trust and reliance in His ability through us to accomplish His will. The definition of independence is “not ruled or controlled by another, self-governing, not connected with others, separate, thinking for oneself, and not depending on another. Every aspect of independence is in opposition to the will of God.
The definition of trust is “strong belief that another person can be depended upon, faith, rely on, to put something in the care of another, and to believe. Faith and trust are closely linked. The Word says that without faith it is impossible to please God and that anything done apart from faith is sin.
God has taken me through a process that boils down to learning to trust Him completely, to learn to trust Him through people…help me Jesus. To trust that He will take care of me despite the fact that every circumstance in my life can scream the opposite is true. He has brought me to the place where there is absolutely NOTHING I can do for myself. If He does not come through for me it's over.
The Word says to humble yourself. If we do not learn to humble ourselves, and that really means to trust Him, then He is obligated to humble us. It is a much easier process to humble yourself and do whatever He is asking of you than for Him to have to use circumstances to do it for you. But either way it will get done.
Our hearts do not completely belong to Him if we are still independent. From the beginning of our walk with Him He is after one thing from us...our heart. This is called sanctification, a big word that just means to be wholly and completely His. This process in a believer’s life takes a lifetime. We should be submitting our hearts to Him a little more everyday, giving Him more and more of our time, our money, our thoughts, our actions, our talents and ourselves. If He is not first, giving Him the first consideration in our every decision, the first part of our day, and the first tenth of our money then He is not truly Lord in our lives.
No one is perfect and none of us has arrived. All He asks is that we are on our way. That when we fail we start over again the next day. Even when we fail He is always looking at our hearts and knows our motives.
He never wants us to feel condemned because we fail; condemnation is from the enemy. But the Holy Spirit will convict us when we mess up and that feeling is to spur us to repent and try again. I feel as if I invented this thing called independence, I have been so good at it. But...tomorrow is a new day and with the help of the Holy Spirit I will pick myself up and start again, to trust Him more tomorrow and more the next day. My prayer is that you will too.