From the minute we are born, we are dependent.
Dependent on the doctors and nurses. We become dependent on the hospital staff to take care of us. We depend on our mothers to feed us, diaper us, and give us love and comfort. We depend on our fathers to show us love, comfort, and security. It is the natural order of things that we depend on others for our care in all our stages of life.
And we aren’t simply dependent on people; we are also reliant on things- electricity, the internet, physical and mental comforts, food, water, and so on. There comes a time, however, when we become independent; in fact, encouraged to do so when we reach a certain age to learn and accept the responsibility of being on our own.
Life happens- some things are good, and we celebrate our accomplishments, and some things are wrong, and we become dependent on things like alcohol, drugs, porn, and smoking- things that harm us and are once again dependent.
Breaking free from these destructive things isn’t easy. Some people stay dependent until the addictions and dangerous chains kill them. Some people manage to break free and begin a life of independence again.
Dependence can also be a foreign concept to people taught to be independent.
That is why dependence on Jesus is an afterthought for some of us until something like cancer comes along. Until the diagnosis is so bleak, we are forced to reconcile our lives and become dependent again.
“We can achieve our goals either by human effort or by the power of God. The dependence on God’s power is the best choice.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita, Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind
I could go on and on about depending on God. I could fill line after line telling you dependence on God is not a crutch; it is freedom. But would we really understand it that way?
I’ve lived most of my life depending on others- telling me what to do, telling me what not to do, dependent on my parents, my siblings, my ex-husband, and my children to validate who I am. My decisions usually go awry, and I spend days, sometimes months, kicking myself for making the wrong choice. Why? Because I do not depend on God for even the small things in my life.
Had I depended on God before my marriage, He might have led me elsewhere. Had I depended on God during my marriage, the hurt might have still been there, but maybe I could have made it through better than falling apart and relying on alcohol to get me through.
There was no dependence on God until everything had fallen apart, including me.
What if we depended on God every morning when we woke up to help us through our day? What if we depended on God for every decision we make instead of relying on intuition, “gut feelings,” or our understanding? What if we depend on God before the cancer diagnosis or the things beyond our control?
Hmmm. Some food for thought.
“The world sometimes misunderstands the idea of childlike faith, thinking that Christians are childlike because they believe in myths and fairytales. But this is not the Bible’s meaning when it compares us to children. Instead, childlike faith is a metaphor for trust, dependence and love, and an encouragement to ask for what we need”.
https://www.compellingtruth.org/childlike-faith.html