Control

“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” Phillippians 3:19-20

I admit that I am a bit of a control freak.  I like to plan the way my life should go and then to see to it that it happens my way.  Surrendering control is a choice I have to make from the time I open my eyes in the morning until I close them at night.  A choice, I might add, that I get wrong a great deal of the time.  But, one thing is for sure, when I am obedient to surrender control, PEACE REIGNS!  God has promised goodness to me and it’s a goodness that I cannot create by my control.  It comes through handing over control to the One who’s in control anyway.

It’s like trying to take the wheels off a car and then asking it to drive smoothly down the road.  It’s not possible.  The two things don’t work without the other.  When I try to take control out of God’s hands and expect my life to run smoothly and peacefully, it can’t happen.  God is in control no matter what, even when I try to be and think that I am.  The difference is that without submitting that control to Him and trusting Him with it, my life is neither smooth nor peaceful.  It’s like fighting with God over something that is innately His.  He will not give it up to me, at least not completely.  Thank goodness.  Imagine what would happen if just for one day, God said, “okay, you think you can do this?  Here is control.  You try it.”  I would screw things up royally.  I can promise you that.  I’ve had a glimpse of that before.  I believe that God does allow us to make choices for ourselves and we don’t always choose according to his best.  Sometimes, I decide that I must know better than God and then I choose accordingly.  I might get what I was after, but it comes at a cost.  I soon lack peace and find myself navigating a very rough and uneven path.  Thankfully, when God allows us to wander down that road, he is quick to rescue us to a peaceful path again when we submit that control that we were sure belonged to us.

I am faced even today with a temptation to grab the control reigns from God.  I was woken this morning with a flood of thoughts about an opportunity that hasn’t even been presented to me, but I want it.  At least I think I do.  When I think about it I get all tied up inside, which is what happens to me when I start to manipulate.  It’s a feeling of unrest and fear that if I don’t do something to control this situation, it might not end up the way I want it to.  The good news that surfaces is that if I submit my desire to God and actually let him control what is already His, then I receive peace and ultimately behold a greater blessing.  More than anything else it’s about allowing things to be in their rightful place.  Control belongs to God alone.

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