"Dependent Independence"
Born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ live lives of dependent independence, as it were.
"We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead" (II Corinthians 1:9).
"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13).
Apart from the Lord Jesus, we can do nothing of eternal value and acceptance with God. "Without Me, ye can do nothing" (John 15:5). However, we are not apart from the Lord Jesus. "Christ liveth in me" (Galatians 2:20). We are "weak in Him" since we are forever the dependent party in the relationship between God and ourselves. However, by faith we live in His strength - "be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might" (Ephesians 6:10). Thus, we live in a wonderful, but challenging duality of grace, again, a dependent independence. We readily acknowledge our complete inability apart from the Holy Spirit's working in us "both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). We nevertheless affirm His active presence and "work out our own salvation with faith and trembling" (Philippians 2:12). We live for God by living from God.
Such plainly stated Biblical truth delivers us from both fleshly self effort and paralyzed passivity. I can't! I can! Through Christ! This constitutes the dynamic theme of New Testament teaching whereby the Spirit of the Lord Jesus lives in us so that we may "live through Him" (I John 4:9). The Apostle Paul testified of such Divine and human synthesis in his testimony to the Galatians:
"I am crucified with Christ" - Paul is gone. "Nevertheless I live" - Paul returns. "Yet not I" - Paul leaves again. "Christ liveth in me" - the Spirit of the Lord Jesus inhabits Paul. "And the life I now live, I live…" - Paul returns yet again, to live. "I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. " Paul lives, but through Christ rather than by his own devices and abilities (Galatians 2:20).
Dependent independence. Christ lives in us. We live through Him. A lifetime will be required to learn and grow in the wonder of our Lord's empowering presence and the redemption of our human selves and faculties unto His glory. I cannot! I can! Through Christ!
"We shall live with Him by the power of God."
(II Corinthians 13:4)
Weekly Memory Verse
"Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."
(Philippians 1:6)
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