Declaring your own independence

By Donald Lamson

Wow! July 4th, Independence Day, what a paramount day in the lives of most children. Remember? Where were you going to go for the best viewing? Dad always had just the best spot in mind. The excitement. Seeing the bursting charges light the night sky. The cannons rippin’ your ear drums. You loved it.

Always, as you got older, as you gazed into the sky, there was self reflection. I love that. So does our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 11:28 and 2 Corinthians 13:5, He says, “We are to examine ourselves.” Not a board, not an institution, not even another person. We are to examine ourselves. True independence. Wow, I love Jesus Christ. His teachings resonante the realities of pure common sense perfectness. If that’s a word. Sorry for English majors cringing thinking, “He needs to diagram that sentence.” Haha. Just trying to communicate life’s truths to precious, precious people. Realizing that there are many who have a lot of degrees, but no temperature.

I, Bruce Springsteen and millions of others grew up in New Jersey in a series of “institutional” examinations. (By the way, Bruce, I love your Wrecking Ball tour and the faith journey based messages that your music exudes to me.) When we follow Christ’s model of self examination, the kernel of true faith is revealed. We forsake religion and embrace relationship. When we examine ourselves, Christ massages our heart. When the heart changes, desire changes. Then actions change. Everything is a heart matter.

So on this Independence Day, let us examine ourselves. Release yourself from the bondage of institutional, peer, and destructive external examination. So much of how we feel on a moment by moment basis is governed by external factors: What someone says; How someone looks at us; What the outcome of an event is; How much money is in our pocket. Listen, none of that matters. And none of that determines the person you are. All that matters in life is your reflection to others of the image of Jesus Christ. So follow Him. As you gaze into those fireworks, become a child again.

“Let us,” as in Hebrews 12:1, “lay aside every weight.” Bruce blasts it in Badlands also. Listen to it. And for people like us, who were told, “get inside that trash can, because that’s all you’ll ever be is trash,” we all need a personal Independence Day.

Let the inside determine how you feel moment by moment, not the outside. Don’t allow anything, or anyone, to steal your joy, or water the seeds of doubt, or fan the embers of negative thinking. We run around asking WWJD.

OK, am I dating myself? But, we all know what Jesus did. So, let’s LLJD, live like Jesus did. DWJD, do what Jesus did. Let the inside define you, not the outside.

Jesus experienced massive home town rejection, from His brothers, from His entire family. But it didn’t define Him. It didn’t cause Him to redefine His destiny. All of you reading this have experienced attacks and external sabotage. Enough.

Let’s make this, pray this, let it be your first, true, Independence Day. Claim it. Jesus Christ says, in John 8:32, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Happy Independence Day. Enjoy. Praise the Lord. Read the Bible. John 3:16.

— Lamson is chaplain at Lake View Care Center in Bigfork. His column appears here monthly.