There is a lot of talk in the world today about control. Opinions vary on if, and to what degree, we as human beings exercise control. Some say, “Yes, I am always in control!” While others say, “No, control is an illusion!” My analytical brain wants to put me in the “Yes!” camp, but from experience and what I read in God’s Word I know that the latter is where I live.
Why do we feel the need for control? The world says it’s primal, a survival instinct, hard-wired into us when we crawled out of the ooze a bazillion years ago. As a Christian I reject the idea that my ancestors were ever protozoa or ever “oozed” anywhere. Honestly, which is more fantastical: a) humans were once single-celled organisms and “evolved” or b) God brought everything into existence?
I believe the answer lies, perfectly enough, in the idea of control.
If the universe simply sprang into being, one second there was nothing and the next, volia, Earth we are not beholden to anyone or anything for our existence … it was an accident, happenstance without purpose or design. After all, a human can’t be indebted to protozoa or the big bang! If, however, God created the Earth in seven glorious days, breathed life into Adam and from his rib created Eve, well then there is someone we owe! Someone who has control over our existence.
Submission, by it’s very definition, is an absence of control. When we submit to God’s plan for our lives, when we follow His commandments, when we acknowledge our fallen sinful nature and finally, blessedly when we are washed white by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, we are most surely “out of control”! The point being … we’ve given control over to God.
However, for all this “lack of control” I would suggest that in perfect submission there is control … God’s control and reign over our lives gives a peace and joy that no white-knuckled grasp on the handlebars of life could ever give! He is a loving and wonderful Father who promises to safeguard us when we submit to His plan for our lives.
‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’ Jeremiah 29:11 (NAS)
When asked, “what is the reason for the light that lives within you” what is your answer? Mine is simple, “I was born a sinner, separated from God. Were it not for His grace, mercy, and love I would be damned to an eternity of loneliness and darkness in Hell. He loved me so much that He sent His son, Jesus, to pay the price for each and every sin. That kind of love is epic, without equal and is the reason for the light that lives in me!”
To some being in control is safety … the only way they can live. I challenge each of you to take close look at how “control” plays out in your life. For me, I’m ever the broken girl, making mistakes but following (and ceding) control to the Lord one day at a time.