To be able to say “All mine” is a great feeling. There are many occasions to shout that out. From working hard to earn something, paying a loan off on a home or car, and going all the way back to making your first purchase with the earned allowance from your parents for that new doll or bike. Maybe it was even a gift from the favor of someone in your life. It’s all mine!
Not Dependant on Anyone or Anything Else
It feels good to be free. Free from being dependent on anything or anyone. To not have any dependencies is a rare and amazing thing. People become so dependent on many things. Even on things they don’t realize.
For instance, someone who drinks a lot of coffee then misses it for a day because of an altered schedule and then refrains from it for the next week. So then they wonder why they have headaches for the next day and a half up to eight or nine days. It’s withdrawal from not having the caffeine that your body has become dependent upon. And the withdrawal can be pretty severe.
Dependencies Include…
There is a whole list of dependencies in our lives. According to TheHealthy.com, there are 23 surprising things you can be dependent on or even addicted to, leading to negative effects. They are:
- Lip balm
- Teeth whitening
- Moisturizer
- Exercise
- Plastic surgery
- Eye drops
- Tattoos
- Shopping
- Furniture curation
- Listening to music
- Tanning
- Pulling your hair
- Diet soda
- Shoes or designer clothes
- Television
- Taking selfies
- Sex
- Extreme sports
- Being busy
- Negative self-talk
- Love
- Video games
- Chewing ice
Well, maybe a few of those things are not so surprising. But some are definitely surprising – lip balm, furniture curation, and chewing ice. Wow! Okay, so what are some things I am not even aware of in my own life then? DO NOT answer that! LOL
People
One thing which is mentioned indirectly on that list that I want to emphasize for a moment is PEOPLE! There are various levels of dependencies. But we can’t become so dependent on people that we are not fully dependent upon God
And as people, and particularly parents, we must not cause others to become dependent upon us. Human nature is to rescue people from their own messes as opposed to allowing them to struggle through them and learn how to overcome them. If this doesn’t happen, they will become dependent and will always look for a bailout.
The Mice
There was a study on mice and rats. See my early blog on this entitled Encouragement. Basically what is shown was that they could only swim for about 12 minutes before drowning. But if they were rescued just before drowning, then put back in the water after recovering, now they could swim twice as long. Why, because they were waiting on that bailout. That sounds great, but here’s a twist to that lesson – don’t put yourself back in the water (your dependency or addiction) just because you know or are hoping someone or something will bail you out.
Jesus is Calling
I want you to be all mine!
Jesus Christ
Jesus wants to wean you from all other dependencies. He wants you to know that not only does He want you to be dependent on Him only, but He has the capacity to back that up. He is the author and perfector of our faith.
Hebrews 12:2a AMP
[looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity],
Depend on Jesus.
Deuteronomy 33:27 NIV
The eternal God is your refuge,
and underneath are the everlasting arms.
He will drive out your enemies before you,
saying, ‘Destroy them!’
You can depend on Him.
Proverbs 16:9 NIV
In their hearts humans plan their course,
but the Lord establishes their steps.
Depend on Him.
Romans 8:38-39 NIV
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Heavy Rock Lyrics Warning
Here’s a message from Skillet on taking those dependencies and burning them down. If you are a Pan Head (a Skillet fan), then you will surely enjoy this hard rock message. Enjoy…
Challenge of the Week
I want you to be all mine, says Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior. What dependencies do you need to burn down in order to give Him your full and complete focus and trust? Through this week, name those dependencies and give them to Him and watch Him literally transform your life. Be dependent on Him and allow Him to be your safety net. So be it.
This is also a great read! I ran into that dependency. At one time, I had to have an energy drink “2 a day.” I also drank a lot of soda. It was hard at first, I did have those headaches. Two years now, and I haven’t touched either! When you think about it’s funny. No matter what it is when you put GOD first, you don’t need the other things.
Great testimony Dre`. God wants to be our all-in-all. We allow so many ‘little’ things to distract us from fully being His. Thanks for sharing my friend.