So let’s have a moment of true confession. My wife giggles each time a person says to her, “Your husband is so calm and chill, and he seems so easy going.” Why the laugh? Well because it’s not completely true. It would be false to claim I was calm, when I sometimes struggle with anxiety. I would be hard-pressed to identify as ‘chill’ when I’m picky about many things (just ask my wife). And as far as easy going is concerned…my wife would say that I have opinions on things that she never knew you could have opinions about.
Let’s face it, deep down most of us struggle with control, some of us just hide it better than others. We harbor a belief that if we attempt to control all aspects of our lives then everything will go just fine. If I take control and get my way, I’ll be forever happy, right? Wrong.
If you lived on planet earth for any amount of time then you quickly learn that it is virtually impossible to control everything, actually, anything at all. And the truth is, just like you can’t control what the driver in front of you does next, if you were honest you’d have to admit the inability to sometimes control yourself. Newsflash! You mess up, and sometimes you sin, and your breath isn’t always fresh. I’m kidding…sort of.
If you are waiting for all the stars to line up in your favor in order to attain happiness, then you will never be happy. Control is not something we can conquer, but don’t worry, someone else has.
“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
-John 16:33
In this passage Jesus was telling his disciples that their request for anything they needed should begin and end with an appeal to God. If we try to achieve, control, or earn any of the things we need without receiving it from the generous hand of God, we will come up short, and surely experience disappointment. Our desires won’t come by our attempts to manipulate people or events, they will come from God himself. We cannot live in a state of peace without Jesus. It’s just that simple.
In a way this makes us a freer people. In Christ, we have peace regardless of the tribulations we encounter. It’s that light yoke that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 11, his way is easy, and his burden light.
Which is good, because this whole control thing is exhausting.
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