Independence Day is just around the corner. It has caused me to meditate on the word “autonomous.”

Autonomous vehicles, once only fiction, now are a reality. The Google cars, driverless cars, roam the streets of New York City acting as taxi cabs. Driverless semitrucks are now on our streets. Maybe we can push a thing like independence too far. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be passed on the interstate by a semi that doesn’t have a driver behind the wheel. Thinking about it causes me to remember a very old story:

A passenger airplane had reached the cruising altitude of forty thousand feet. A recorded message came over the speakers reminding the passengers to keep their seat belts on. That was followed by the announcement: “The Captain will soon come back to greet you, and to personally thank you for flying Yours Truly Airlines. Don’t worry, the plane is on automatic pilot, and nothing can go wrong, nothing can go wrong, nothing can go wrong, nothing can go wrong ….”.

Mr. Murphey has a law for things like that: “If something can go wrong, it probably will.”

Maybe something has gone wrong in our culture. Autonomous cars. Autonomous trucks. Autonomous planes. Autonomous people. There is a danger that the desire for freedom might make us too independent. Even from God. We want to make our own decisions and go it alone. God does give us freedom. He gives us the freedom to follow Him by choice. He does not force us to obey Him, but He wants us to.

Paul wrote, “You are not your own, you were bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). No one can ever be truly independent from God, the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe. God is just as necessary as food, water, and air. We are more dependent than independent. We just refuse to admit it.

Even so, God is a Gentleman, and will not force His will upon anyone. We get to choose our measure of devotion to God. No man can truly live without Him, but if we choose to do so, we can pretend that we can live without Him.

I am thinking about another holiday that could be added to the calendar. A yearly observance would not be enough. It would be a scheduled day every week to recognize our spiritual dependence. We might call it the Lord’s Day.

Chuck Terrill, who has doctorates from Master Theological Seminary and Trinity Seminary, is the senior minister at First Christian Church in Cassville. He may be reached at 417-847-2460.