Independence Is Impossible With Judah LupisellaEgzanp

Day Two

The desire to become independent and self-made is rooted in pride and insecurity. The flesh desires to receive praise and “prove itself” when, in all reality, we could not have succeeded in anything if God had not let us continue to breathe.

Being independent is unattainable because you’re always depending on something: water to hydrate you, food to nourish you, and God to keep everything in the universe from spontaneously combusting. I definitely took the extreme route on that last one, but it’s true! Therefore, we realize it’s not about being independent—we were created to be dependent.

From our greatest ancestors, Adam and Eve, dependence on God began—until, of course, they thought they knew better than God and wanted to become “independent.” This desire ultimately led them to eat the forbidden fruit. Look how well that turned out for them, and look at the sin and brokenness we have in our world and still experience as a result of their pride—thinking they knew better than God.

This reminded me of a quote I read earlier today:

We often speak of a man who’s done this successfully as a ”self-made man.” The appellation is usually spoken with a sense of admiration, but really it should be said in the same tones we might use of the dearly departed, or of a man who recently lost an arm—with sadness and regret. What the term really means is ”an orphaned man who figured how to master some part of life on his own.”