Independence Day

Although a little late (today is July 7th) I thought I would muse on this most significant of American holidays, though the most insignificant for this Englishman (lol)!! So, on July 4th 1776 the colonies were no longer 'dependent' upon Great Britain. Of course this 'dependence' meant that the colonies had no representation in Parliament, so the British made significant decisions for a part of its empire that was expected to comply...but comply they did not. History tells us of the unjustness of this treatment, and a successful revolution was the result. I wonder if Parliament regretted its decision not to give the Americas a voice and, had they done so, how different might things have become?

We are all dependent upon God. Paul, Peter, James & Jude all introduce themselves as Servants of God in their letters. Jesus is continually described as a servant of the Father, and we are all subject to His rule. He made us and He rules us and we must be His servants. There is, however, one significant caveat...choice. Choice allows us to become independent of God, to go our own way, to do our own thing. Our ability to think and reason means that our ethics become individual ethics and everybody creates their own version of right and wrong. Of course we have a legal system and the "big" sins are universally considered wrong. But there are many Biblical sins that, through our Independence from God, had become muddied and confused. We say promiscuity is OK, but sexually transmitted diseases are the consequence. We have parties and showers to celebrate the pregnancy of teen girls, while they often bring a Fatherless child into the world and the probability of the mother getting a good education has dropped dramatically. We have taken prayer out of schools and then wonder why there is a growth in gangs and shootings and why violence prevails, while the level of education falls behind that of other developed countries. Is this the cost of Independence?

Today, as I said before, is my opportunity to muse. The USA's Independence from England was the right thing to do. The mother country was not concerned about the best interest of its colonies, so the colonies rebelled. God, however, does have our best interest at heart. He even sent His own Son as a sacrifice to atone for our sins, so great is His concern for us. We need a call to Dependence because, if we continue to rebel against God, we are offering our allegiance to another master who doesn't care about us and who will lead us to perish.