“No! You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman. “In fact, God knows that when you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4–5)
Americans value independence – freedom from outside control or authority. Our foundational document claims as much: “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”
The human condition – the human problem – is not political at its core, but theological. Sunday we will celebrate American independence from tyranny. That is a good thing…a beautiful thing.
But we, and too many of our countrymen, are also reveling in our independence from God. Like Adam and Eve, we want to be free of divine constraints, free from outside control and authority. We have made ourselves like God…we know what’s best.
It did not work out for Adam and Eve, and it won’t work out for us. “When there is moral rot within a nation, its government topples easily…” (Proverbs 28:2, NLT)
As you celebrate political independence this weekend, please pray. Pray for the nation. Pray for the church. Pray for yourselves. Recommit yourself and your family to theological dependence.
Happy Dependence Day!
