Declaration of In-Dependence

(I have revealed your name to the people you gave me from this world. They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.) 

Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.
-John 17:7 (& 6)

Are you in dependence on God? Jesus was and we are meant to be. Jesus emphasized his dependence on God. Every thing Jesus said and did pointed to God.  Jesus was inspired by his father.   The Father's words and deeds Jesus spoke and did.

Jesus' disciples also are dependent on God.  If you are a Christian, you are dependent on God.  Everything you have been given comes from God.  He gives you the good things and he allows the bad.

In the blessing, in the good, help me to steward it.  In the trial, in the bad, I am looking for the grace, as a gift in the midst of the tough time.  Or, I am asking,  "where is the upgrade I need of more Christlikeness?"

Jesus revealed the Father.  Jesus shows us what God is like.  Do you want to know what God is like?  Look at Jesus.  Read Jesus words.  See Jesus.  Hear Jesus.

After having God revealed to them, what God is all about, and how we should respond to God; the disciples get it that everything about Jesus is from God and that everything that Jesus is endowed with is from God.  Everything that Jesus did and said came from, was dependent on Father God.
Everything that you have given me comes from from you.
This was Jesus' declaration of in-dependence.  Jesus was not co-dependent, which has a negative connotation, but in-dependence.  His life was dependent on God.

Jesus says that he has revealed the Father to his disciples and they are keeping God's word, and that they get it that everything comes from you, Father God.  Jesus is saying that they get it that the life, the Christian life, is all about being utterly dependent on Father God.

Every step, every day, we are dependent on God. Jesus modeled and displayed this life and his first disciples got it.  He was also showing them and us that he was not a new and different side of God, but showed us what the father has always been like.
Everything that you have given me comes from from you.
Can we say this?  Can we say that every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of heavenly lights (James 1:17)?  Can we say with Job that the good and the bad of life come from or are allowed by God, so I will bless His Name in the good and the bad (Job 1:21)?
Everything that you have given me comes from from you.
Can we follow Jesus in how to relate to Father God, in him, in Christ, and declare our in-dependence?  Can we live our lives, cast onto God's mercy and graces; believing every day that without God, without God's help, we will fail?

The question is, do you and I believe that the Christian life is about getting saved and even sanctified, but also being dependent?  Sure, we have our families and faith communities and we need others, and we definitely know we need God.  We worship and pray and express our dependence on God, for example in our worship songs and our prayers.

But is dependence, on God, our life style?  In the kingdom are we more and more dependent, childlike, humbled; as we move forward in time, or more independent?  We are always dependent.  We need to declare our dependence on God.  Jesus was and we are dependent on God.  I am in Christ and being Christlike depends on God.  God is all about making me like Christ and only God can do that.

Everything you have given me, in Christ, is from you, Father God.  Everything in my life is from God.  But, maybe something is my mistake, or misstep, or blunder.  Maybe something in my life is not there because I missed an opportunity.  Yes, unlike Jesus of Nazareth, we all stumble (James 3:2).  We sin, we mess things up, and we miss opportunities.  What then?

What about when disaster strikes?  What about accidents, sudden losses, or betrayal by someone like our spouse?  Whether we caused our disaster or not, we have a word from God:
We know that God works all things together for good for the ones who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.  -Romans 8:28
The worst case is that God will bring good out of bad.  And we are promised, in the same chapter, that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ (Rom. 8:38-9).  Every day is a new day.  If we have sinned, we can ask forgiveness and get back in-dependence on God.  God can work out our problems and supply everything we need.  God has unlimited resources.

Being independent, self-sufficient, a self-made person, and being your own lord and savior, perhaps with some household gods; is the opposite of the life Jesus calls us to.  Declare your dependence on God.  Declare that you trust God for everything.  He bought you with Jesus blood shed on the cross and you are his child.  He takes care of his children.  Get this.  We don't just get tickets to heaven that get us in when we die, but it's heaven on earth now.  God wants to take care of you now, in this earthly life.  That's good news.