I Can Do It Myself, Daddy!

I was in prayer a little while ago, and God started dealing with me about my independence. It seems like a good thing, right? Wrong!

He was referring to my independence from Him. My well-intentioned'I Can Do It Myself' independence. Let me explain. As a baby, you’re dependent on whoever takes care of you. Every time you need to be fed, changed, picked up, consoled, or played with, you must depend on your caretaker. As you grow, you start to gain independence. You learn to dress, go to the potty, brush your teeth, feed yourself, etc. Eventually, you can drive yourself places, cook your meals, get a job, and pay for things for yourself. 

A good parent wants you to become independent and not need them for every single thing. (Also, your independence is usually really convenient for them.) This concept works everywhere except in the kingdom of God. God doesn’t want us to become independent of Him. He wants us to depend on Him for everything. 

It was never my intention not to need Him. My heart posture was to show Him that I had grown in my walk with Him and could do things without constant supervision or instruction. I wanted Him to be proud of me. But He gently chastised me and said, “I don’t need the convenience of your independence. It’s to your benefit to depend on Me.”

Sometimes we don’t think about the ways we forget or don’t include God in everything we do. We don’t intend to exclude Him, but the exclusion happens nonetheless. What would our lives look like if we held our Father’s hand and let Him walk us through every thing going on in our lives: our jobs, our businesses, families, marriages, all of it. I imagine it would be drastically different. Maybe even uncomfortable. But He still requires that of us. 

I challenge you to think about some intentional ways to include God in your day-to-day lives and watch how your perspective and maybe even your passion transforms in the process.