Dependence

Dependent is not a thing that we really want to be. We want to rely on others only when it helps us have or do what we want to have or do. We want independence. “I’ll do what I want to do, when and how I want to, and be what I want to be,” expresses how we feel. This is at the heart of the sin problem! We are rebels in God’s creation. Adam and Eve did what they wanted to do. Before that, their tempter decided that he was going to be and do what he wanted to be and do. Behind every crime and broken law is a determination to do what we want, without obeying the law. Disobedience to parents is another facet of this rebellion. When we come to Christ, we want to live our Christian lives the way we decide that we want to live them. We even expect God to help us do it our way. It doesn’t work! No one can live the “Christian life.” Only Jesus can live that life and He doesn’t need our advice. The only way that God uses, to produce Jesus’ Life in and through us, is by spending much quality time in His Presence. There are no shortcuts and no substitutes! The more time we spend with Him, listening, learning, loving, admiring, thanking, worshiping, praising, thinking about and obeying, the more His Life will be manifested. Dependence on Christ means that He will have His way in every area of our lives. We must let go of our control and submit to His. “For God, Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (II Corinthians 4:6-7). In the hymn, “Is Your All on the Altar?” Elisha A Hoffman points out this vital fact, “O we never can know what the Lord will bestow of the blessings for which we have prayed, ’till our body and soul He doth fully control, and our “all” on the altar is laid.” Selah! Jesus or self will occupy the throne of our lives, but not both! Will we relinquish control? Ron

Questions? E-Mail me at knowingtheway1@gmail.com