The sin of independence

goes unrecognized, unconfessed, by ShepherdDave — who considers himself a follower of Jesus.  The sin of independence is the-biggest-single reason ShepherdDave is so non-reproducing, so fruitless in adult evangelism, so dismissed by the nonbelievers around him.  ShepherdDave ASSUMES Jesus wants him doing this or that, or, he willfully DOES.  He doesn’t ASK.  And he doesn’t THANK his SovereignShepherdJesus about everything, because he is confident-he-knows which things are thankable and which are not.  Wise in his own eyes, leaning on his own understanding.  Independence, not dependence.  Human power.

ShepherdDave’s philosophy of Church leadership is like any other human institution/organization  — select leaders who are strong, confident, competent, can-do, make-it-happen, and what gets accomplished is what humans can do on their own.  Human power.  Human cleverness.  Human creativity.  Independence.  Worldliness.  Pride.

ShepherdDave is not the MOST-independent a human can possibly be, ignoring the God of the Bible altogether, doing the most-evil things imaginable, but ShepherdDave has so much in common with nonbelievers regarding independence, as to render ShepherdDave a harmless believer in Kingdom expansion, in solving the problems of this nation, of this world.  Human power is no threat to the world, flesh, devil.

–ShepherdDave, who only sees the problem when he’s been freshly convicted of the sin of independence/confidence-he-knows-what’s-best, so he’s momentarily DumbSheepDave, enjoying the bliss of Jesus-dependency/humility/cluelessness-he-knows-what’s-best, so the nonbelievers and believers around him might experience the other-worldly humility and other-worldly love of Jesus

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