Going Solo

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here are several rites of passage for children.  Parents take great notice of these events and know exactly when each occurred.  Some of these rites include, rolling over, sitting up, crawling, walking, and my favorite, talking.  Then there is the graduation from diapers to training pants, from baby food to table food, and the list goes on from there.  However, one of the biggies, one of the crucial rites of passage from a “little person” to becoming a “big boy or girl” comes with the arrival of the first bicycle.  This crucial stage of development heralds the growing desire for independence and self-sufficiency.

I remember my first bike.  It was a beauty!  It was wine in color with large sloping handlebars and a silver saddle.  It came equipped with all the standard equipment, a chain, two tires, brakes, reflectors, a seat, handlebars, and, of course, training wheels.  I couldn’t wait for sunrise so I could get outside and learn to ride that bike.  My mother promised she would go with me and help me and after breakfast, she and I went outside with the bike, determined that I would learn how to ride that very morning.

Actually, I was much more optimistic than mom.  I felt sure that I’d be riding within a matter of minutes and that we would be able to remove the training wheels by sundown.  You’ve heard of being just a little over zealous?  Well, that is exactly what I was.  It didn’t take long for me to learn that learning to ride a bike required more than I initially bargained for.  My mom was very patient, understanding, and a great encourager.  She let me go at my own pace but always kept her hand on my back, assuring me she was there when I needed her and that I didn’t have to do this alone.

After I became comfortable with my bike, I asked my dad to remove the training wheels.  Once again, I found myself needing help from my parents.  Gaining my balance wasn’t that easy and I was very afraid of falling down.  Both my parents encouraged me to keep trying.  Even now, I can still feel my mom and dad’s hands at my back, assuring me I wasn’t alone and that I would be able to learn to ride by myself.  I learned more than riding a bike from them, I learned to depend on them, on their ability to care for me and to support me whenever I fell down.

Learning to ride a bike is easy compared to the other lessons we learn in life.  The bumps and bruises resulting from falling off a bike pale in comparison to the bumps, scratches, knocks, and down right wounds that life throws our way sometimes.  As children, we are forever trying to gain our independence, to spread our wings, and to fly on our own.  As adults, however, we look for relationships, someone to cling to and someone we can depend on.  Funny, isn’t it?  If life teaches us anything it is that we must learn to depend on people rather than being independent from them.

This is a hard lesson to learn spiritually as well.  From the beginning, God intended for mankind to depend on him.  He placed Adam and Eve in the garden to dress it and look after it.  But God provided all they needed.  However, when they decided to eat of the forbidden fruit and exert their own independence, that’s when all the problems started.  Throughout both the Old and the New Testaments, we see time and time again how man chose to be independent from God rather than dependent on him.  And repeatedly, the story is the same.  Man makes a mess and God has to clean it up.

Would it surprise you to discover that dependence is actually the biblical model for our relationship with God?  Would it surprise you even more to know that Jesus spoke directly of his dependence on God, admitting that independence from God cuts across the grain of what we were meant to be?  Look at Jesus words in John 5:19, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”  Here, Jesus states very plainly that by himself he can do nothing; He can only do what he sees his Father doing.  Jesus is totally dependent on God for everything. Now I ask you, if Jesus Christ states that he can do nothing without God, what excuse do we have when we attempt to go solo in every circumstance?  We can’t do it and we were never meant to!  That’s why Jesus says further on in John’s gospel that we are also dependent upon him. 

In John 15:5, Jesus makes the following observation, “apart from me you can do nothing.”  This is not only a statement of fact, I believe, it is a promise.  Essentially, Jesus promises that unless we become dependent on him, we can do nothing at all.  Everything we do will fail if we neglect to lean heavily on God and cast all our cares on His shoulders. 

On that Christmas morning, taking my bike out all alone was not an option.  I couldn’t handle it by myself and my mom never intended me to.  She stood beside me all the way, coaching me, holding me, encouraging me, and catching me, throughout the whole process.  Without her help, I could never have managed that bike on my own.  This is what God wants to do for you today.  He is there right beside you, coaching you, encouraging you, and catching in every circumstance of life.  Won’t you lean on him today?