Friends in Christ Weekly Message
July 4, 2000

Here in the United States, today is an official holiday called Independence Day. It commemorates the Declaration of Independence from the British crown issued by a congress of people from the several British colonies in the eastern part of what is now known as the United States of America. This seems an appropriate time to consider the idea of independence. What kinds of independence are most valuable?

To be politically independent of a distant power which seems tyrannical appears to be desirable. But from a Christian perspective it is rather other forms of independence that are more important in our lives, such as:

• independence from our tendency to do wrong.
• independence from mindlessly following the crowd.
• independence from greed.
• independence from relying on outward circumstances for our sense of peace and well-being.
• independence from society's conception of people's worth and ability to contribute.

Each choice of a type of independence is also a choice for a type of dependence. The colonies' struggle for political independence involved a dependence on the colonists joining together against the British and accepting great sacrifice in the cause. The Christian's desire for the kinds of independence listed above involves a dependence on God to guide and direct our lives, and to give us inner peace and a joy that is beyond the outward circumstances of our lives.

In Friends in Christ, we look to Jesus as the one on whom we can depend to become independent of false notions of the basis of fulfillment in our lives. As we accept that dependence, we find that we have fuller, more meaningful lives whether or not we have the worldly attributes of success.

What kind of independence do you seek? On what or whom are you dependent?

Bill Samuel

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