“For in Him we live and move and exist…”  Acts 17:28a (NASB)

Yes, it is a national holiday complete with parades, fireworks, cookouts and flying our flag.  Everywhere in America you will find red, white and blue.  We value our freedoms in this country.  This day is to celebrate the break from England and the establishment of a new nation, independent of English authority and rule.  Independence is the concept of being able to stand apart from and to be free from the support of others, whether it is people or governments or any form of authority.  Even children wrestle with parents as they try to exercise their independence .- from the terrible two’s to teenage angst and beyond.  Humanity highly exalts the ability and need to be independent and free.

Counter to this concept is the other side of humanity that craves community and the need to be a part of a greater body of people, whether it is family, friends or organizations.  We long to fit in and belong to one another.  It is an odd paradox we live in, one side of us craving to be free and the other side longing to belong.  We don’t want to be oppressed but we don’t want to be lonely either.  I think it is really a reflection of how we live in the nature of sin but are created in the image of God.  Where is the balance and how do we reconcile this paradox?

It comes first from realizing that as God’s creation, what Paul says is true; we exist and move and have all our being because of our Creator.  We were never meant to be totally independent of Him. The other part of this truth lies in understanding that until we break free from our sinful nature through Christ we will continually seek to be “free” and independent, but once we accept Christ as our Redeemer we find that we are free from sin and thus free indeed (John 8:36) .

The question for this Independence Day is have you experienced your own ‘independence day’?