Independent

Welcome back to the Journey!
Thanks for your patience during the break.
We are returning to our journey through a letter Paul wrote to Jesus followers in Corinth. Today, Paul challenges some of our attitudes and philosophies.


1 Corinthians 11
2 I am so glad that you always keep me in your thoughts, and that you are following the teachings I passed on to you. 3 But there is one thing I want you to know: The head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. 4 A man dishonors his head if he covers his head while praying or prophesying. 5 But a woman dishonors her head if she prays or prophesies without a covering on her head, for this is the same as shaving her head. 6 Yes, if she refuses to wear a head covering, she should cut off all her hair! But since it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut or her head shaved, she should wear a covering. 7 A man should not wear anything on his head when worshiping, for man is made in God’s image and reflects God’s glory. And woman reflects man’s glory. 8 For the first man didn’t come from woman, but the first woman came from man. 9 And man was not made for woman, but woman was made for man. 10 For this reason, and because the angels are watching, a woman should wear a covering on her head to show she is under authority. 11 But among the Lord’s people, women are not independent of men, and men are not independent of women. 12 For although the first woman came from man, every other man was born from a woman, and everything comes from God. 13 Judge for yourselves. Is it right for a woman to pray to God in public without covering her head? 14 Isn’t it obvious that it’s disgraceful for a man to have long hair? 15 And isn’t long hair a woman’s pride and joy? For it has been given to her as a covering. 16 But if anyone wants to argue about this, I simply say that we have no other custom than this, and neither do God’s other churches.


Independent. In a recent meeting, I had a friend share that the one thing God is teaching her right now is dependence. We have a natural urge to be independent. It isn’t an urge that should be suppressed; but tempered with a true understanding of God. As Jesus followers, we need to learn how to filter all of our decisions through the lens of dependence on God. It may be difficult for us to really understand this issue, of a woman covering her head, because it isn’t an issue in our western culture. It shouldn’t be difficult for us to understand why it is so important to remember our dependence on God ... that “everything comes from God”.