A Declaration of Dependence
"Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" Romans 6:16
In school we learned about the Declaration of Independence, a document drawn up by the American colonies in 1776 to announce they were breaking away from British rule to form their own government, the United States of America.
Many a young person (and some who are not so young) has made a similar declaration. "I am quite capable of managing my own affairs. No one has any right to tell me what to do. I am my own boss." If they do not say it in words, they show it by their actions.
And yet they are so utterly mistaken. Their eyes are blinded to their own bondage. For one cannot serve self without serving Satan. The person who flaunts his independence from God and from all God-ordained authority is only indicating that he is in the opposite camp - in the control of the devil, God's arch-enemy.
No one is truly independent. Either he is dependent on God's Spirit to lead him, or he is dependent on the forces of darkness to be in charge of his life. There are no other possibilities. Self and Christ are so distinct from each other that saying "yes" to one is in effect saying "no" to the other.
Indeed, the Christian at baptism is making a public declaration, but it is not a declaration of independence. Instead, it is a declaration of dependence. He is voluntarily choosing to be dependent upon God for his salvation, and for Him to take control of his life. He knows that self must die, and that Christ alone can give victory over self.
But our commitment does not end at baptism. Rather, we might say it only begins. Our conscious choice to deny self and reject the whims of the devil is renewed every day. As God's children we live by faith and seek to do His will in obedient discipleship.
The hymn writer has summed it up in the following words:
When I proudly said to Jesus, "All of self and none of Thee."
Yet he found me; I beheld Him bleeding on the accursed tree;
And my wistful heart said faintly, "Some of self and some of Thee."
Day by day His tender mercy - healing, helping, full, and free -
Brought me lower, while I whispered, "Less of self and more of Thee."
Higher than the highest heaven, deeper than the deepest sea,
"Lord, Thy love at last has conquered - none of self and all of Thee."
-Taken from Family Life