Thursday, October 9, 2008

Who's In Control, Anyway?

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time because the days are evil. Wherefore ye be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.*
I have often heard that passage of Scripture as I'm sure you all have, but I had never quite put it into the perspective I'm about to share with you, until sometime last year, when I heard this two or three times. I thought, God must be trying to teach me something. I had always thought of this passage as being one about not getting drunk and speaking against the evils of strong drink, as some of you probably have. It is to a point speaking of drunkeness; however, it is really speaking on the subject of control. Just like we can let alcohol control our bodies, we can let other things control us, such as friends and family, people's opinions, circumstances, our own will, and many other things. This passage is saying that we should be wise and do what God wants us to do and not allow other things to control us. God should be chiefly in control of your life. You gave your life to Him when you got saved. Not letting Him be in control is hypocritical. It's as if you gave someone a gift and said, "You can have this, but you're not allowed to use it." Most of the time, it's not that we tlet other things control our life, but that we try to control it ourselves. The only problem is, we forget that we're not in control of anything to start with. God is in control; He is over all that happens. If something good happens to you, you didn't cause it to happen; God did. So many times, we let our own successes and the praise of others fill our head until it swells, and we get the idea that we can do all things without Christ. But that is the ONLY way we can do anything; in fact, we can accomplish greater things when Christ is with us. Our lives would be such a mess if we were in control of them, but with God, amazing possibilities pop up. God works in our lives in amaizing ways. Why would we ever want to be in control? There is a poem by Shel Silversteen that tells of a little boy who asks God if he can run the world a while. God agrees and gives the boy the wheel. The little boy starts asking tons of questions, such as the following: how long do I do this? When do I turn the wheel? How many days do I get to do this? How much do I get paid? Then God takes back the wheel and says, "I don't think you're ready yet." The thing is, we are never ready to take over our lives, because we have the innate ability to mess things up. God is waiting and willing to take over our lives if we let HIm. So...who's in control of your life?
* Ephesians 5:15-18, KJV

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

I agree with what you had said until you said we have to let God have control. That completely contradicts what you had written earlier, for, if someone has to let God have control that indicates that He doesn't have control.

Amy Weddle said...

What I meant by that was, that yes, God is in control, but people aren't always willing to surrender their lives to Him. He is in control but they might not believe that or they don't want to believe that anyone else is control but themselves.