From birth, children are nurtured toward independence. Babies are taught words before learning to crawl and then walk. Adolescents are coached about the kind of friends to make and, ideally, young adults are trained to manage their own finances in preparation of becoming a fully-functioning, independent, contributing member of society.
Of course some family situations require their children to become independent at a particularly young age. An adolescent daughter may serve as a mother to her younger siblings, forcing her to be much more self-sufficient than others her age. Conversely, it’s not uncommon for a young man to have all the tools needed to live independently yet he remains in his parent’s house. Despite earning an adult wage, he relies on his mother to do his laundry and cook his meals. There are problems with too much or too little independence.
Independence, in and of itself, is neither bad nor good. It is a matter of context, which is something the Bible provides to the diligent reader. First, it is a problem when there is too little of it.
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Heb. 5:12–14)
Like a human father with an infant, so the Heavenly Father is with new believers. They are expected to increasingly gain independence. “Practicing,” by definition, is a repeated action. Therefore, maturity in the faith comes from “constant practice” that is borne out in spiritual disciplines such as Bible study, prayer, fasting, worship, fellowship and others.
Are you a child of God that is constantly practicing? Can you handle preaching about weightier topics of Scripture, or do you lose interest and long for biblical milk? When you come across things you don’ t understand in the Bible do you stop, study and meditate on them or are you satisfied to just move on to shallower waters? Scripture is able to make Christians complete, which is to say that reading, studying and meditating on it will make you a more independent Christian.
The second biblical context is that Christians must remain in dependence on God. Independent Christians stand on their own two biblical feet, but they never outgrow their dependence on God. In fact, the more you grow in faith, the more you rely on God and your church family. Ironically, godly Christian independence leads away from self-sufficiency and toward humility. The more time you spend in “constant practice” of spiritual disciplines, the more you will find yourself trusting the Lord and not leaning on your own understanding.
The psalmist declares, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold” (Ps. 18:2). This mature, independent Christian man, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, publicly affirmed his absolute reliance on God. Likewise, the mature Christian sees that he cannot go it alone. Godly Christian independence does not lead to separation from Him or His church, it drives you to it! In Christ the church is joined together, and when each part is working properly it makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
I’ll sum it up like this. If you fail to practice spiritual disciplines you will constantly depend on others and are at risk of your faith being perpetually weak. Yet if you fail to increase in dependence on God, you cultivate a personal autonomy that only increases your faith in yourself.
A constant practice of spiritual disciplines will simultaneously cause growth in godly independence and in dependence on God. Are you independent, yet in dependence? If not, it’s time to start practicing spiritual disciplines.
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. (Jn. 15:5)