Some of us are known to brag a bit that we are quite independent, meaning we need no assistance from others to get along in life, but in reality, very few of us are really totally independent.
Usually, we must have a job to be truly independent, so, in fact, we are dependent upon that job’s paycheck and that job’s boss and our co-workers to allow us to be independent otherwise.
How about our family? I cannot tell you the number of times our families have answered our call for help. Early on, when my husband, Neil, and I needed the house painted, a troupe of family appeared with joyful hearts.
When Neil and his sister were stranded in Wisconsin with a broken axel on his truck, my father and brother drove from Pittsburgh to help.
When I had walking pneumonia and was too weak to drive home from work, Neil’s father picked me up and his mother drove me to the doctor.
And, in turn, we have helped our mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, as well. Time after time, we have found ourselves thankful that those in our families are interdependent and not independent.
Of course, this all came to mind this week because America is celebrating our independence from Great Britain. Those of us who are free to enjoy the blessings of America often count ourselves among the independent-minded people following in the footsteps of our founders. But they, too, were dependent upon each other in order to help America gain its independence.
So, the thought occurred to me – can any of us be truly independent while living on planet Earth? God created us to be a people – many, otherwise He would have quit after He created Adam.
In addition, He told Adam and Eve, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”
So, no, I don’t believe we can be truly independent persons while living on this Earth because we were created to be part of God’s family.
That choice – to be a voluntary part of God’s family – is our independent choice whereby we chose to agree or not to be dependent upon God.
It is interesting how that works, isn’t it? God allows us to decide whether we are all in or not. God, the very one who created us, allows us to reject His offer to be in the family.
Just as it took our founding fathers’ dependence upon one another to make the final decision to become independent from Great Britain, we may need other people with thought-provoking questions and knowledge to help us make the correct decision about joining God’s family.
We evaluate the benefits and costs in all our earthly decisions, so why not do the same with this, our most major decision in life. We are even told by Jesus to ‘count the cost’ if we agree to join the family, so this is not to be a lightly made choice.
This should be a thoughtful choice whereby we know what we are getting into or what we are rejecting.
It occurs to me that some people may not understand this is a voluntary choice. They may make no choice at all, which, of course, means they have rejected the opportunity to join God’s family by defaulting on their ability to say yes.
Choosing to accept Jesus as my Lord and King in order to join the family of God has been delightful for me. On the plus side, I have great joy and the Bible tells me there was rejoicing by the very angles in heaven when I said yes. I obtained assurance of my salvation and eternal life with God.
There is also the expectation of obedience to God’s created order, which I now realize is the purest and healthiest way for me to live. And, yes, I am totally in!
On the negative side? I may have considered these to be negative at the time, but now I look at them as positive, so here goes: I gave up smoking after much prayer and eight long years of frustration; as I grew in my faith I found I no longer enjoyed certain movies, books and entertainment because they didn’t honor God and His choices for my life; and my heart now pleads in prayer for friends and family that have not yet accepted this beautiful offer from God – something that I gave no thought to before.
I pray that anyone who has not yet made that choice may find today is the right day to choose to accept Jesus as their Lord and join His family. If so, may I be the first to say, “Welcome to the family!”
ED. NOTE: Amy Patsch writes from Ocean City. Email her at writerGoodGod@gmail.com.
