I love the 4th of July! For me, it’s not a holiday that ranks up there with Easter or Christmas or Silas’ birthday, but it’s still a great day of celebration. I enjoy the occasional parade (not necessary for me every year). I like the fireworks displays (although I’m partial to the Crabtree fireworks that happen later in the summer). I like the family gatherings. I like the hot dogs and hamburgers. I even enjoy an occasional festival. Plus, if I can get my hands on a funnel cake…well, come on! What’s not to like about fried dough and powdered sugar? (Granted, it’s terrible for you, but hey, we’re celebrating.)
All said, the 4th isn’t my absolute favorite holiday, but I still do love it and its festivities.
As has been the pattern for 2020, this year will be different. No parades. No fireworks (not even Crabtree later in the summer). No festivals. No funnel cakes. (That one stings a bit to write.) There’s still a chance for the small family gathering and a hot dog, but a lot of what I love about the 4th has been removed.
The question remains: Do I still love the holiday? Will it even be meaningful this year?
Well, we hopefully know by now that the 4th of July isn’t really about all of those things in the first place. Right? It’s not about the parades or the festivals or the fireworks or the food. These are all of the trimmings of the holiday, even if they get more attention than the actual reason we celebrate the day in the first place. Really, the 4th of July has been set aside as a day to remember something much more important. The 4th of July is the day we remember our independence, the day we commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the day when the Continental Congress indicated that the 13 original colonies would no longer be subject to British rule, that we would be free to govern ourselves.
Really, the 4th of July isn’t even the true name of the holiday. That’s just the date. Really, we should say Happy Independence Day.
Independence Day.
I have to be honest. That name causes me to pause.
Now, before anyone starts throwing their hot dogs at me or begins squirting me with ketchup and mustard, let me explain. I don’t think that the best path forward for us as a nation is a return to British rule. I do not wish to belittle the weighty sacrifices that have been made by countless people that I might have freedom. I’m not even lobbying to change the name of the holiday or to do anything drastic. Here’s what I am trying to do, I want for us to think about independence for a bit.
Independence.
It’s an ideal that is highlighted from the moment we’re born.
“Look at her! She just took her first steps…all by herself!!!”
“Awwwww. Little Jimmy finally learned to tie his shoes…all by himself!”
“Pastor Chris! You finally learned how to make your own bed!” (I know how, but I don’t do it myself with any regularity…sorry about that! Even this morning I left it a mess for Christa to handle. Maybe one day I will be a more independent bed maker.)
We’re a country that prides itself on its independence.
We “pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.”
We are “self-made.”
We strive to be “independently wealthy.”
We idolize independent entrepreneurs.
Independence is a virtue that is highlighted, that is promoted, that is elevated. Dependence, on the other hand, is not. Dependence is often viewed in a negative light. If someone is codependent, they enable another’s addiction. If someone can’t afford to pay for their own education, their own house, or whatever it is they wish to buy, they become dependent on the bank. Even our tax returns could be viewed as painting dependency in a negative light. “How many dependents do you have?” Read: “How many people are under your care that are sucking your wealth and not making it on their own? How many leeches do you have at home?” If you have more dependents, the government feels bad for you and cuts you a break on your taxes.
I’m over-simplifying, but in general within our country, the following is true:
Independence = Good. Dependence = Bad.
Independence = Positive. Dependence = Negative.
Independence = Strong. Dependence = Weak.
Independence = Free. Dependence = Captive.
But, I have to ask…is this really the way we should look at these two ideals? Is independence truly and unequivocally good? Is dependence truly bad?
We know the Declaration of Independence for the way that it declared a separation of the 13 original colonies from British rule and for the holiday that has been celebrated for more than 200 years. After some prompting, we might also know one of its most famous lines (“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”) But, do you know how the document ends?
Here’s the last line:
“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
Do you see what I see? Right there in the Declaration of Independence?
Dependence.
Dependence on two things.
Dependence on God. (“…with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence…”)
Dependence on each other. (“…we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”)
Who would have thunk it? Dependence right in the midst of the founding document celebrating our independence.
To be honest, when I started writing this devotional, I didn’t know that last line was there, but I am thankful that it is because it gets to the truth that I was trying to convey from the outset. None of us, even here in the U.S.A. where independence is promoted, are truly independent, nor should we strive to be. We need to be dependent on God, and we need to be dependent on each other.
The prophet, Jeremiah, says this about dependence on God:
Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
If you are solely relying on your flesh, your strength, your independence, your abilities to do things and “git ‘er done”…you end up like a shrub in a desert. Parched. Lacking. Wanting. No good will come of your life.
In contrast, if you rely on God, God’s strength, God’s power, God’s ability, God’s provision, if you are dependent…you are like a tree planted by water. Even when the dry times come, you’ll still bear fruit. Your life will be fruitful.
In striving to live in pursuit of life, liberty and happiness, dependence on God is key.
Accompanied with dependence on God is dependence on each other.
Ecclesiastes says it this way:
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! …And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, 12)
Like it or not, we need each other. In countless ways. At countless times. In countless places. Likely, more than we recognize or know.
So, friends, dependence is important. Dependence is good. There is a strength that is found in recognizing our need for dependence that becomes a prideful weakness when we grasp to independence too tightly. We need God. We need each other.
This 4th of July, I want to wish you a Happy Independence (and Dependence) Day. You may not get a funnel cake, but I hope that you realize that you can place your life in God’s hands and that we all have a role to fulfill in our walk with Christ.
~ Pastor Chris
