I was talking with a friend recently who expressed concern over a loved one- namely, that their loved one seemed to making decisions that were unhealthy simply because those decisions enabled that person to be “independent”- to do whatever they wanted to do without having to answer to someone.
Independence is a nice thought. It’s what we all wants as kids, right? To be able to grow up, stay up as late as we want, eat dessert in bed, and buy whatever we want whenever we want it.
Of course, if you’re an adult, you realize it doesn’t actually work that way!
But the desire to be independent remains: the desire to do what we want with who we want whenever we want.
It’s a great concept.
It just doesn’t actually exist. At least not in the way we imagine.
The truth is all of us are controlled by something deep within us. Something directs our decisions…something that practically overrides our autonomy and essentially dictates what we do.
That something can- and often does- fly in the face of what appears to others to be “common sense.” Sometimes that’s good…sometimes it’s really unhealthy.
And that’s really the question: is the something that controls you leading you towards something good…or something toxic?
Paul put it this way as he wrote to the church in Rome:
Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?- Romans 6:16
Put simply, one of two things will control us: sin, which leads us away from Jesus and towards death, or the Holy Spirit, who will lead us to obey Jesus, eternal life, and becoming like Him.
According to Scripture, we are slaves (so to speak) of one or the other. We are controlled by one or the other- there’s no truly neutral, or independent, ground.
We are either controlled by our sin or we are controlled by the Holy Spirit. None of us are really independent.
The question is which one are you being controlled by…and you can tell by what it’s leading you towards.
Ask yourself that question: what am I being led towards?
How do you tell?
Simply this: are you becoming more like Jesus? Are you making much of Jesus in your life? OR…is Jesus more of a back-burner thing for you? An afterthought? Not becoming much like Him at all?
Being led by the Holy Spirit leads to becoming like Jesus, which is where we truly come alive.
Being led by sin leads us towards not becoming like Jesus, which is where we find death. And that doesn’t mean that your life is awful…it could just be that you’re completely numb to the reality of your sin.
The bottom line: none of us is really independent. We’re all under the influence of something- or someone.
The question is whether it’s sin or the Holy Spirit.
And we can’t afford to get it wrong- because our lives and our eternity is at stake.
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This post originally appeared on dillonschupp.com.