The answer should be obvious.... the "fourth of July." It's that day, everywhere on Earth!
But in the U.S., of course, the day is different and special. It's Independence Day, marking the declaration away from British rule in 1776.
As we suggested in a recent post, few things show personal independence as much as a poker game. As far as we know, only the World Series of Poker has come up with a "tag-team" tournament format. The rest of the time, you succeed or fail on your own.
But have you ever asked if it's right or wrong to be "independent"? Can anyone really be - in this life or beyond? A well-known book mentions the word only in one place....
In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God. - I Corinthians 11:11-12 (NIV)
We can understand these words on many levels. God created the first woman from the side of a man (Genesis 2:20-23). Both a man and a woman (traditionally) are required to develop a family.
But note the last part - that "everything comes from God." Despite what evolutionists might claim, you wouldn't be here without Him creating humans a long time ago:
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. - Genesis 1:27
Yet God created humans with brains and "free will." To that extent, we're independent - free to play poker, free to fold or raise pocket Jacks, and so forth. But God expects us to ultimately admit our lives depend on Him:
For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die in the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. - Romans 14:7-8
This idea goes quite against the flow of this holiday, and even the "American spirit" itself. But will you be humble enough to admit to God you need Him - not only now, but in order to live eternally in His Kingdom?
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