Dependence Day
- Gary Fritsch
- Jul 5, 2025
- 2 min read
I'm going to break from my normal approach of focusing on the Gospel of the day and will instead consider the pivotal reading we have from Genesis today.
In this epic (and somewhat confusing for some) story, Jacob, the father of the nation of Israel, colludes with his mother Rebecca to win the blessing of his father Isaac through a series of deceitful actions. Not the kind of stuff that we normally have in the Bible to pattern our behavior around. But we should remember that at that time in the history of humanity's relationship with God, He had only clearly given them one commandment: do not kill. Jacob used cunning and yes, deceit, to win over his brother Esau, which was a step ahead of Cane and Abel.
What I want to focus on though is this: What was Jacob pursuing? God's blessing!!! He had already swindled Esau out of his birthright in exchange for food. The birthright (the eldest son getting twice the share of everyone else) would seem to be the important part right? The blessing was the fulfillment of God's promises through the family. The ultimate source of meaning for Jacob's life was going to be rooted in God's blessing.
This is where we come to our connection with Freedom. True freedom understands that God designed us and knows ways that we can come to great fruitfulness that we will never discover on our own. We will never discover a way to fruitfulness that exceeds what God had in mind for us. So freedom is not being free to choose whatever we want (Esau did this and lost his birthright), it is not being encumbered or limited in any way from discovering and pursuing the fruitfulness that God imagined for us. This means free from sin and temptation which distract us from the very best things, things of tremendous benefit to us and to others, sources of great peace and fulfillment, things that will matter all the way into eternity.
We can only get these things if we clamor for God's blessing as Jacob did. We do it now with a fuller understanding, through Jesus' word, of how to conduct ourselves in love and morality. They can only come if we are dependent on Him for every good thing. So, while celebrating our independence from oppressive rule this weekend is worthwhile, if we are going to celebrate true freedom, then perhaps we should also celebrate DEPENDENCE DAY - the day we commit to being dependent upon His Grace for true freedom in our lives. When was that day for you? Has it happened? Could it be today?
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