The 4th of July is a great American celebration. It is always enjoyable to watch fireworks, eat a lot of barbecue, spend time with family and enjoy a mid-summer relaxation. Our country is truly a great place to live and it is active and merciful grace that we are enabled to enjoy such freedom as we do.
However, when I hear the word Independence Day and its celebration I think of my daily celebration of just the opposite, namely my dependence. For instead of my pride and value coming from a nation and our independence from another nation, it is good to use this holiday to recall, reflect, and marvel at the reality of Christian dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
As a believer I realize that I am depending on Christ for:
- his perfect obedience to the Father…for I did not obey
- his sinless perfection…for I am sinful
- his wrath satisfying death…for I am unable to satisfy eternal wrath
- his perfect righteousness before the judgment bar…for I have deficient righteousness
- his ability to keep me saved…for I cannot keep myself from wandering away
- his sovereign ability to rule this world…for I struggle with organizing my days
- his unfading love….for I trip on myself daily
- his ultimate motivation for life and ministry…for I have nothing in myself that trumps this
- his priceless blood that will never depreciate…for I have no means to pay
It is good therefore to declare dependence upon the Savior; knowing that there is a day coming when those who are gathered together in his kingdom will unite in numbers that will dwarf the fireworks crowds, to declare dependence upon King Jesus, the Lamb who was slain.
