Control

Romans 8:9
"You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ."

It can be really scary to not be in control of things. As humans, we like to be in charge of basically everything in our lives. And if anyone gets in the way of our agenda, we are usually going to be immensely annoyed with them to say the least.

Why are we like that?

I think it kind-of boils down to pride. We think that we know what's best for our lives. We have it all planned out and don't like it when things don't go according to our plans. We even sometimes think we can handle everything on our own. But God has a far better plan that we're missing out on if we aren't letting Him take rightful control of our lives.

Probably all of us can remember some moment in our lives when we finally realized that we couldn't handle life on our own. And maybe that's when we just gave up. But those are the moments when God can finally take control and begin to change us. When we stop relying on our own wisdom and trust in God instead.

Proverbs 3:5-6
"5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."

Imagine you're a rich person that has a private jet. And you decide to go on a trip. So, you hire a trusted pilot and take off into the wild blue yonder. But after a while you're kind-of bored with the trip and decide your pilot doesn't really know what he's doing. Or maybe you hit some bad turbulence and lose faith that he knows the best way to get you through the rough places to where you're going. So you go up to the cockpit and shove him out of the seat, grab the controls and start feeling really good about yourself. Until your plane goes way off course and then starts going into an out-of-control nosedive. Instead of giving the controls back to the pilot who knows what he's doing, you plant yourself even more firmly in the seat and hang onto the controls for dear life. You're in control, right? But then again, you're not really. Because your plane is completely out-of-control, you can do nothing to stop it's downward plunge, and you're very likely about to crash. So, you start to panic when all of the sudden you notice your faithful pilot is tapping you on the shoulder and he says, "Excuse me... I know you you wanted to be in control here, and I'm not going to contradict your decision if that's really what you choose here, but I think if you just let go of the controls, got out of my seat, and let me take over, things might work out a little better..." So you finally decide to get out of his way, and with impressive skill he stops you from the impending disaster that was about to happen.

Of course, this is a picture of our lives, and the disaster that can unfold if we try to still be in control of everything. And, even though we sing songs like, "I Surrender All," we have so much trouble truly surrendering and often don't let Jesus in His rightful place as ruler over all we do. The point this story brings out, is how foolish of a decision that really is to hang onto the control we want so bad, while Jesus is standing right beside us, waiting to help us and take over if we'll submit our desires to Him.

"Many Scripture passages tell what God will do for a person who through repentance accepts Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Ezekiel 36: 26, 27 is one of the most clear. It has been used frequently by Dr. Billy Graham to explain what God wants to do in the hearts and lives of those coming forward to receive the forgiveness found only in Christ. The verses say, 'I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful to keep my laws.'

"A 'heart of stone' is inflexible, unyielding and insensitive. It is not apt to receive from or have any devoted affection toward its Creator. A man with a heart of stone has no fellowship with the Lord. He does not do the will of God, thus, he does what seems right in his own eyes which will lead to his own destruction. God alone gives physical life and He alone can give spiritual life in what Jesus says is being 'born again.'

"When God supernaturally gives a repentant person a 'heart of flesh' and puts His Spirit in a new believer, that person becomes sensitive and alive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Only then can he determine and do the will of God. This enables him to know the joy that comes from obedience to the Word of God. Once the Holy Spirit of God has entered the heart and life of a repentant person, [and control is given over to Jesus,] they are never the same! Guaranteed! The Bible says they are a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17) Jesus made these truths very clear to Nicodemus, and He desires to make them crystal clear to all who will hear even now. In heaven there will be only those who are born again, those who have trusted Jesus Christ as both Savior and Lord."

When it comes to living your life in a way that pleases God, you ultimately have to stop trying. That doesn't mean you just let whatever happens happen because you don't care anymore. It means you let go of the controls, stop trying to do it your way, and let God's love lead you, and change you, turning your "heart of stone" into a heart of flesh, willing to follow your Savior wherever He leads you.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15
"14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised."



quoted paragraphs were taken from this web address: http://www.sermoncentral.com/illustrations/sermon-illustration-terry-laughlin-stories-newcreature-68516.asp

JPK