If Jesus Cannot Control You…
Control. Are you addicted to it? Does it drive you crazy when you don’t have it? Does it drive you crazy to ride in the passenger seat? Or worse, the back seat!? Do people drive you crazy when they don’t do what you expect them to do? Does your dog drive you crazy when he doesn’t do what he’s supposed to do? (Short confession… i got up early this morning to make our kids breakfast, chocolate muffins. I sat them on the counter & went up stairs to wake up the kids. When we came down to eat the food I had worked so hard to prepare our dog had already eaten all the muffins off the table. Clearly I cannot control or train our dog which makes me furious. lol.)
Does God drive you crazy when He doesn’t do what you need or want Him to do?
We love control. Even when we say we don’t want to be in control, that’s our passive aggresive form of control. This past week we were talking with our students about this at church & we came across this quote from A. W Tozer:
“If JESUS cannot control you, HE cannot save you. And if HE cannot control ALL of you HE cannot control any of you.”
— A.W. Tozer
So what does the life look like that’s completely yielded to God? How do we live this way, really?
I’m not sure I know exactly. I do think part of our problem has to do with the continuing battle between faith & fear in our lives. Faith says to God, “I’ll go where you send me.” This is Isaiah’s response to the Holy God. This is Abraham’s faith to go to an unknown country. This is the people of Israel following Moses who is following a cloud by day & fire by night. Fear says, “I’ll eventually go where you send me, I just need to wait & see & make sure this is God’s will for my life & …” (Luke 6:46.) The list of reasons to wait on doing the will of God goes on & on as we sacrifice faith for fear, comfort & what we know. Our need for control can paralyze us. But giving Jesus control…
Giving Jesus control is a huge act of faith.
We always say, “Walk by faith & not by sight.” But who does this, really? When we do this we tangibly put our trust in God. If we believe what we say we believe – that Jesus is who He says He is – then this shouldn’t be so hard for us. I believe when we step out on the waters of faith having prayed about a decision that may not seem logical but is faithful that God honors that. So much so that we too “walk on water.”
Giving Jesus control brings adventure to life.
You can’t follow Jesus & have a boring life. It just isn’t possible. Saying yes to Jesus automatically puts you in places & spaces that are out of your comfort zone. Saying yes to Jesus means that you often do things because you’re putting your faith ahead of your desires, your calling ahead of your wanting. And then one day you turn around & think to yourself, “Wow.” Because you realize all that has happened in your life that would have never happened except for the fact that you continually put one foot in front of the other as faithfully as you knew how.
Giving Jesus control saves us.
If it’s just up to you & me, we’re hopelessly lost. But continually giving control over to Jesus has a way of saving us. Not just eternally. But in everyday ways. We are being continually saved each day we lay down our lives to walk into His life for us. Walking by faith, in faith, is life saving. Life giving. To live life any other way… well, it’s no life at all.
So often we try to control God. We don’t say it that way… but when God doesn’t respond or answer our prayer the way we think He should, or when we think He should, we take back whatever control we pretended to give Him in the first place. And we continue on… in misery. God cannot be controlled. Manipulated. His hand cannot be forced. He does whatever he wants. (Psalm 115:3) And He has all the power & the perspective & the love to lead us into life, if we would just trust Him. Follow Him. Obey Him. And give Him the keys to the car & let Him drive.
