February 1 …. everyone should have their W2’s from the previous year. It is time to look at taxes. Did you claim enough dependents? Was there enough withholding? Do you owe?
Dependent. I looked the word up and it is one of those words with so many meanings, “depending” on what you want to say. This time of year we are looking at how we claimed dependents. Dependents are those that lean on us for their needs, so we claim them to reduce our taxes.
Just the 2 of Us
Our children are grown and married so my husband and I only have each other to claim for tax purposes. “Depending” on how you claimed your “dependents” in the previous year, you now look to this year’s W4 to decide on withholding based on dependents. Confused? That is just one way to look at dependency.
Co-dependency, chemical dependency, alcohol dependency, (Starbucks dependency :-D) ; the lists go on and on. As Christians we can claim one kind of dependency that takes care of all our needs. This is the dependency we need to pass on to our children. Christ. We need Him every hour, every breath. So many days we hit the ground running without recognizing our need for Him in our life and then at the end of the day when we have made a huge mess of things, it hits us. We ran around in our own power. That is like running around on a skate board when you have a fine tuned race car in the garage. What are you waiting for? Pull it out and start the engine.
2 Peter 1:3 (HCSB) “3 His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.”
Christ is all you need. He is all the power you need. You need Him every hour and He is there. You can lean on Him. You can trust Him.
I see people daily running to books and pastor’s, church groups and help groups bypassing the power of going to Him. It would be amazing to see what would happen if the first stop on everyone’s day was in His word and in prayer talking with Him. There is nothing wrong with Bible studies, reading books and seeking pastoral advise. I write my blog to help others. We learn from others and it is Biblical.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (ESV) “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.“
But, for Christians to continually seek help outside of Him is the wrong kind of dependency. Our problems occur when we only recognize our need for Him because we are in trouble. The truth is we need Him every hour, not just in hard times. IF we only run to Him when we are in trouble, then we have not realized our true need. Recognizing our need for Him, leaning on Him daily in His word and in prayer, carries us through the trials of life. Yes, God will use the pastor and church as well as it’s members, to help in time of need. But, just as we should not expect the schools to help raise our kids, we should not expect the church to meet our needs. God meets our needs … sometimes using the church. Unfortunately, some people will never step pass their needs to recognize all they need is Him.
Today we need the Lord. Where is your dependency? What or whom are you leaning on? What gets you through your day? Your kids, your family, your friends, co-workers …. they need to see your dependency on Him.
So when they meet you today, will they meet Him because you are leaning on Him?
Lights in the Storm 