Day 2- Interdependence

Yesterday we explored the incarnation of Christ, that in ways beyond the coming of Jesus God has and continues to fill and dwell among us.

Today I want to explore a facet of Christ’s incarnation–what it means for us to be interdependent with God and each other. And how in interdependence, in seeing ourselves more through the lens of relationship, we find true abundant life. 

In our western world, we see ourselves and others through the lens of individualism. We pride ourselves on self-sufficiency, and expect others to do the same. We systematize the value of personal success, valuing freedom for individual gain at times over the well-being of the world around us. 

But if we remove the lens of our western perspective before looking at Scripture, if we free ourselves from our value system of individualism before coming to God, I think we’ll find his way to be quite different from ours. 

There is no image of God that does not factor in free and paradoxical relationship. God himself is three and one. Father, Son, and Spirit in perfect relationship comprise the idea of God, a concept we cannot grasp on this side of heaven. You and I are both the imago dei, the image of God ourselves, but also as part of God’s body in which he is the head. Jesus tells us that he is the vine, and we are the branches. It is in relationship alone that we bear fruit. 

While God has made us all unique, and expresses himself in our uniqueness, he has not made us self-sufficient. 

In God’s incarnation at Christmas, we see most visibly the lengths God is willing to go to show that he dwells among us. But it is not in the person of Jesus alone that God has made himself available. In fact, it’s through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross that God has redeemed what was lost, and now in fact dwells in you and in me. 

So my encouragement for you today as we near Christmas is this: this Christmas take off the lens of your individualism, even for a few days, and begin to see yourself as a part of a whole. 

See yourself as a branch connected to the vine of God. That apart from him we wither. Connected to him we bear fruit. Not just in your time alone with him, but throughout your day, seek to maintain a depth of connection in all you do. Do no work apart from an awareness of him. See others through his eyes. Recognize that it is in God that we “live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:38). And enjoy a different way of living, the way of a triune God that invites us into his perfect relationship. 

Today in prayer practice your interdependence. Lay down your notions of individualism. Pick up your identity as a part of a whole. Sense the connection between your spirit and the Spirit of God. And seek to live today as a beautiful and unique part of the family and work of God in, through, and around you. 

Guided Prayer: 

1. As we begin, take some time to lay down your individualism. Surrender your pride. Surrender a value for self-sufficiency. And rest in the freedom of needing and wanting God.  

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3

2. Next, reflect on the notion of being a branch attached to the vine of God. Think about the times you’ve tried to produce fruit on your own. Then think about the ease and peace of producing fruit as a natural byproduct of abiding in God. Rest in the freedom from needing to accomplish, to produce, to support all on your own. 

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

3. Last, meditate on the reality of being a part of the whole. Allow your focus to expand to think about those you love, your church, your neighborhood. Think about believers and people stretched around the world. Allow God to give you his heart for his people, and to help you gain a sense of loving connection and interdependence.

“That there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.” 1 Corinthians 12:25-26

Go:

In No Man is an Island Thomas Merton writes, “The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them.” 

As we move into Christmas Eve tomorrow, take time today to allow the notion of interdependence to prepare you to love those you might spend time with just as they are. While retaining a healthy notion of boundaries, seek to develop a true empathy and awareness of the state of those around you. Try to simply notice while reserving judgement, and develop the capacity to love them in whatever way you feel they need most.