1 Corinthians 1
By Pastor Steve
Independence—or—Interdependence?
When we raised our children we knew the day of independence would come. We, as parents, understood that one day our children would be ready to walk away from our parenting and face the world on their own. We realized that our role in parenting our children was to prepare them to address life’s issues and problems in this world while standing strong in their faith as they faced uncertain challenges and unforeseen difficulties. The only way that we could ever raise children who would be independent was to teach them how to trust in Christ and not on their own understanding.
But like most all parents, we realized that the human desire for independence is much stronger than a parent’s ability to help children wait on independence. What we did not realize is that we would have to deter independence in our children when they were young so that independence would be healthy and balanced rather than unhealthy and destructive. We realized early in our kids’ lives that they wanted to be independent too soon in life; and, that desire for independence forced us to help our children understand that independence can be a good thing but can also be problematic if not kept in balance. Sometimes, the best thing we can teach our children, or maybe learn ourselves, is that Interdependence is by far better than Independence!
In this first chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he was addressing an important truth. When independence becomes the focus of life, interdependence on the Lord and the Church becomes less and less important. When independence trumps interdependence, people become so focused on personal agendas and desires, they lose focus of the big picture in life. When independence overcomes interdependence, my convictions can become judgments on others rather than opinions for others.
In this letter Paul said: I appeal to you, brothers and sisters,in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. Paul was attempting to help people in the church realize that our personal independence does not mean that we forsake our interdependence on Christ and His church. We must be focused on what creates unity—Jesus—and realize that our interdependence is what makes us strong and that our independence can actually become destructive if we do not focus on the way that the Lord would want us to live. When we focus less on self, we can focus more on the Lord and His church which will breed a healthy balance of interdependence within our independence.
