Heart Soul Mind Strength

human philosophies I grew up with

Independence and self-reliance are not exactly Kingdom of God principles. I grew up on John Wayne and Clint Eastwood movies in a place defined by defiance, Texas. In my “caught” education, independence was heralded as the ultimate right way to live. Rough and tough, rude and crude, or lean and mean were all praiseworthy descriptors in the context of any independent character.

In Genesis, God created light and lights, sea and land, all the plants, sea creatures, land creatures, and humans. The creation He described as “very good” was an interdependent system. The heavens and lights of the sky were signals for keeping dates and times. Humans were stewards to oversee everything and walk in close relationship with the Creator. The plants were for food. Each member of the very good world carried out a purpose and lived in its place. Altogether it was beautiful in its interdependency. With the central purpose of living in loving fellowship with one another, sharing our blessings around generously came naturally.

When sin came, the curse made obtaining the food from plants an arduous task “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread…(Genesis 3:19.)” The knowledge of good and evil came with that thirst for gaining power over others in the struggle to bring forth food from the Earth. Working diligently alongside God in the joy of His presence, learning daily from His teaching, wanting for nothing, and enjoying raising sinless children was replaced with working hard, carrying the burden of sin and guilt, and competing against one another for resources. That initial lust for alluring appearances, the body’s hungers in a relatively depleted state, and brother thinking himself as better than his brother are likely what has developed into a very different kind of world than the original very good one. From early, the sharing of blessings, the faithful stewardship, and the interdependent matrix of what right looks like disappeared.

The primary philosophy of independence is “nobody can tell me what to do.” This is based foundationally on the truth that God created each of us, so we are each independently responsible to God for how we live our lives. However, somewhere in culture, we let God fade from our concept of reality. Instead of considering ourselves responsible TO God, we started living like we are only responsible to ourselves. Independence is what the prodigal sought when he took “his” inheritance and ran away to serve himself.

Independence must be achieved through self-reliance. To avoid allowing someone else to have the power over self, a person must work even more tirelessly. A person must achieve great success in getting more than enough food from the plants (and later animals) and develop ways to protect the abundance they have labored to stockpile so that they do not rely on anyone for basic needs. Focused always on doing whatever is most advantageous for self, the one not allowing others to tell him what to do uses his abundance to make others dependent on him. Once others are dependent on him, he has power over them. This is the story of humanity, various people, sometimes consecutive generations, accumulate power over others based on hoarding resources. The desire to be self-reliant was the basis of many people, kings especially, falsely claiming God status and being immediately put back into a place that is low enough to deflate their conceit. 

Somehow, I’ve always felt as if independence and self-reliance are positive virtues of themselves, but in reality, we are to lay ourselves completely dependent upon the saving grace of God through the redemption in Jesus Christ and our subsistence comes from His hand only. Not just spiritual subsistence, but also every other thing we need or dream of in accordance with His will.

I think these concepts of independence and self-reliance are taught as a method of the Christian people working to accumulate enough provisions for ourselves and our families not to be vulnerable to subjugation to any human government. The fear of losing faith due to suffering is another tendril of self-reliance and independence instead of truly relying on God. But it is my opinion that this concept is not part of “Go ye therefore and preach the gospel … teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…” Matthew 28:19. Jesus promised us persecution, rejection, and death. When we try to devise human methods to avoid subjugation it is like trying to prevent ourselves from actually walking through the Refiner’s Fire. 1 Peter 1:6b-7 ” though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold, though it is refined by fire, may be found to praise, honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

The Apostles, our examples, endured beatings, imprisonment, starvation, stoning, and death. These hardships were in subjugation to human government and part of the plan. In James chapter one, we are instructed to “count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” Reading accounts of The Heavenly Man and other Christians who suffer for the Lord, they come through those times more satisfied. Times of ease allow us to begin to look around for something that feels meaningful and satisfying, which warps our focus back onto self. If trials of life are not currently upon us, we can still choose to give of ourselves humbly and with the leading of the Holy Spirit. Our cross is always there for us to take up.

In Acts, in the church, we see a resuming of the original very good world as people brought anything they possessed to share. In Christ, as He made them a new creation, they remembered that each of us is independently responsible to God for the life He gave us. As Jesus talked about the bread that satisfies being doing God’s will, we don’t have to chase after things of this world as a way to satisfy our mental, emotional, or spiritual hunger. We trust God will supply what we need each day; therefore, we do not keep our provisions locked away from our neighbors.

We no longer need to strive for power or fear being subjugated to human authorities because even IN that scenario, God will work out His purpose and will keep us forever. We will have close, daily fellowship with Him and recognize His wonderful gifts to us with joy. We will face whatever comes with peach that makes no sense.

When we, followers of Jesus, try to avoid the cross, we lose out on completeness, and society gets lost and confused.