Independence and Dependence
The military has used a clever advertising campaign. The well-known slogan is, “Be all you can be.” This slogan is an appeal to a very basic nature of humans. It is the same nature that drives the desire for freedom. It is the basic desire to be in control of oneself and to be allowed to achieve whatever you want to achieve.
This desire can, however, be a temptation to sin. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve wanted to be free to do as they pleased. They wanted to decide for themselves what they should be allowed to eat (Genesis 3:1-6). At the urging of Satan, they did, in fact, follow their own choices and paid a heavy price.
There is nothing inherently wrong with the desire for independence. It is a natural process that starts right around the time a child learns to walk. From that moment on, the initial stages of the fight for independence commences as parents struggle to keep the child close while the child fights to run away.
We need to keep in mind that there is no one who is totally independent from anyone or anything else. No person came to this earth without parents. No person made it through those infant years without the aid of someone older. And, no person will ever be able to operate totally on his or her own without the aid of someone to loan them money, provide a service, or manufacture a necessary product.
But, it is true that anyone who has the desire to be all he can be will need to exercise much independence to seek out whatever aid he can find to reach that full potential. It is ironic that reaching the goal to be all you can be necessarily entails exercising independence to depend on others.
Our tax system includes a deduction for all the dependents in your home. I told Stephanie, when she asked to move her wedding back from the summer to the winter, that she had to have it on or after January 1so I could have one more year of dependent deduction for the IRS. She chose January 1.
That dependency deduction is quite a lot of money. A dependent is defined by the IRS as “someone who relies on another person for financial support, such as for housing, food, clothing, necessities, and more.” Dependents rely on another for the basic necessities of life.
Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25). He then defined the dependency of discipleship. “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32).
We all have jobs that allow us to provide for ourselves. However, we also thank God for His provisions. We are dependent on God whether we acknowledge Him or not. God can only claim us as His dependents if we are truly dependent on Him for the necessities of life even as we do our part. Could God claim you on a 1040?
-Mike Johnson