The Folly Of Independence
David W Hall
I bent down to help my infant grandson do a simple task but was pushed away amid his cries, ‘I do it! I do it!’ His demand to ‘do it’ is partly his desire to experiment and learn. This is both cute and instructive for him. But this same demand also reveals a self-centred desire for independence. He wants to do his thing his way! The urgency of his voice also reveals a fear of weakness for he wants to be empowered by his capacity. This is the pattern for the whole human race.
In the beginning of history God commissioned mankind to, ‘be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion ..’ (Gen 1:28) His desire was for us to multiply myriads of people to be joyful participants in His family – ones who were equipped with the capacity and desire to love God as He loves. But instead of walking hand in hand with God through the process, we as the human race, have chosen to go our own way. We have pushed God aside in our cries of ‘I do it!’
In the mean time God, like a true Father, has been patiently standing by while we have tried to manage the world and our own personal affairs apart from God. He has given us the dignity of our choices, but has also allowed us to eat the fruit of our ways. Meanwhile, throughout history, the cry for independence has resounded through wars and struggles as men and women have sought for ‘self-determination’. At all levels, we want to do our own thing, in our own way, whatever the cost.
What will it take for God to get our attention? Two thousand years ago He sent His Son into the world. God was living in flesh amongst men! One would think that this would have gained man’s attention. When He healed the sick He certainly attracted national interest. When He multiplied bread and fish to feed thousands, they wanted to make Him their king. But when He challenged their sin and self-centredness, they lost interest. When He declared that in His flesh was the life of God, and that only through Him could they share His life, they were offended. When He raised Lazarus from the dead their leaders realized that they had a choice to make – maintain their own independent way, or embrace the life of God that was manifest in Christ. They chose their own way, and in so doing crucified Jesus.
How were they able to take the Son of God and kill Him? Surely this was a defeat for God? Why did Jesus not use His divine powers to overcome His captors? The answer is simple.
He was not driven by our fearful, human cry of ‘I do it!’ His faith in His Father’s love enabled Him to say to the Father, ‘not My will, but Yours be done’. Here is the main point. God is love and He lives by love that is stronger than death itself. This love gives rise to faith. (Gal 5:6, 1 Cor 13:7&13) The Son could trust the love of the Father, and so commit Himself into the Father’s hand. This was the faith of the Son. Then the reciprocal love of the Son motivated Him to give Himself fully to the Father’s purpose, even if it meant dying on the cross. (Jn 14:31) There is no hint of independence in the Son of God, yet there is no loss of personal identity. This is because the relationship within the Godhead is based entirely on love that gives.
How different from the cultures we have developed within the human race. We are bound by the instincts of self-preservation. The Bible calls this the ‘fear of death’. (Heb 2:15) If our lives are not under immediate threat, the fear of death continues to manifest itself in accumulating wealth and resources in case lean times lie ahead. But this fear of death does not end there, for we are still bound by the drive to improve and protect our life-style, our reputation, and our place on a ladder of importance or achievement. The common thread is that we are driven by the need to protect our independence at all levels.
Jesus came to release us from this terrible bondage so that we can participate freely as a member of the family of His love. The Bible says, ‘since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death’. (Heb 2:14,15)
This verse sums it all up. The Son of God became a man so that He could die in our place and free us from the slavery to the fear of death. God has something far greater for us than independence. It is His love and the life that is found only by being joined to Him.
