The Rocks, The Island and The Spiderweb

The Lord had me thinking about the word independent this week.  I am a self-proclaimed word geek so of course I started thinking about the parts of the word. The two basic parts are the root word dependent and the prefix in-.

Dependent:   shows a relationship or link that will fall if any part is moved or removed

Independent:   not affiliated or associated with a larger entity

But there is another word in the dependent family, and that is interdependent.

Interdependent:   is a relationship in which each member is mutually dependent on the others. Participants may be morally reliant on and responsible to each other. An interdependent relationship can arise between two or more cooperative autonomous participants (e.g. a co-op).  (definitions found in Wikipedia)

Independent means not depending upon an outside entity.  Our church is an independent church. We exist apart from any other church.  We govern ourselves, we choose our own pastor, we appoint our own teachers, and we select our own schedule and ministries.

Within our church we are all interdependent because we are all accountable to each other.  Anything that happens to one part affects the other parts.  When one of us is hurting, we all feel it.  When one of us is missing, we all notice.  When one of us is removed, we all sense the gap.

Galations 6:2  "Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ."  We come together to study God's Word, to praise Him, and to encourage one another.  When we share with others about a situation that we are praying about and ask others to pray with us, we are leaning on them to help us and letting them know how they can minister to us.  We are to be open with each other about struggles and pains and we are to come together and support each other.

Mark 12:29-31 "And Jesus answered him (one of the scribes), 'The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength; this is the first commandment.  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  There is none other commandment greater than these.' "  Sometimes we apply this love to our spouse or to strangers.  We must not forget to apply it to ourselves within the church!

If we are dependent on someone it is like a tower of rocks.  If any one slips or falls down, the others will automatically fall.  If we are independent we separate ourselves from everyone else and try to be an island is the very big sea of life.  If we are interdependent we are connected like a spiderweb.  If one section falls it may put more pressure on another section but it does not automatically tear the whole web apart.  The stronger relationship is the interdependent one!