Depending On The World Comes At a Cost. . . .

Mike Hosey, An Elder

Nothing alive on Earth lives in total independence. Nothing. Ultimately, every living thing is dependent on the sun. Even the organisms in extreme environments that receive their energy from thermal vents at the bottom of some dark sunless ocean are still dependent on the sun. If that big ball of fire in the sky blinks out tomorrow, then everything freezes, those thermal vents shut up, and anything that might produce energy will eventually cool and die. And with that death will come the death of all other life as we know it. It doesn’t take long for humans to recognize that dependence is a natural state of the world. Infants understand quickly that they depend on their parents for both provision and protection. Even after we reach adulthood, we understand fully that we will be depending on others for some level of provision and protection. And the world offers us many things that we can depend on. For instance, most of us depend on a job for money. We depend on grocery stores for our food, and oil companies for our energy, and Silicon Valley for the devices that manage our information. But if our dependence stops with those things, then we will find ourselves in quite a bit of trouble if those things cease to function, or if they become a tainted source, rather than a pure source. The heroes of the bible understood this well. Consider how the psalmist argues that he is able to walk in freedom because he has sought out God’s precepts (Psalm 119:45 NIV). He understood that his freedom was independent of things in this world. Instead, he reasoned, that his freedom was dependent on knowing and actively pursuing knowledge of God’s precepts or principles.


Consider how Abram (who later became Abraham) saw that depending on worldly sources for wealth could poison him. In Genesis 14:1-24, King Kedorlaomer raids the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, plundering them, stealing the food, supplies and wealth of the cities, and capturing Abram’s nephew, Lot, as well as taking many of the Sodomite and Gomorrahn inhabitants. Abram sets out to rescue his nephew, and God delivers Abram’s enemies into his hands, and he is able to recover all the people and plunder. When he returns, the king of Sodom offers to allow Abram to keep all the wealth, if he will simply return the people of Sodom. Abram refuses, citing that the king of Sodom would then be able to claim himself, rather than God, as Abram’s source of wealth (Genesis 14:21-23). Dependence on the world always comes at a cost. Abram knew it was better to be tied to a good God than an evil king.