Are You Really In Control?

Several years ago a speedboat driver, who survived a racing accident, gave his account of his brush with death. The race had gone well and he was running at nearly top speed (well over 100 miles an hour), when his boat veered slightly and hit a wave at a dangerous angle. Between the combination of the speed, the wave, and the angle the boat went spinning like a dust bunny caught in a tornado. The boat rose to a height of over 30 feet above the water, and finally the driver was thrown from the boat and propelled deeply into the water. He was so disoriented and so deep that he really didn't know which way was up. Instead of just swimming he decided to wait a bit for his life jacket to start pulling him toward the surface. With the direction of the life jacket he was able finally able to swim to the surface

In our day one of the most pressing problems faced by people is one of control. People are either tired of feeling controlled: The cost of living, health care needs and concerns, political issues, their jobs, their kids and their schedules, their addictions, and even their spouses. And if they aren't tired of feeling controlled they are trying to control: their weight, looks, bank account, retirement funds, relationships, health, and even those people around them. All this has lead to two very real and dangerous attitudes: 1) Isolationism: finding control by removing ourselves from everything and everybody. 2) The illusion of the self made individual who has everything under control.

Like the speed boat driver there are times when every one finds themselves in a situation that is out of their control. The options for every one are the same: 1) We can take control and live with the consequences of our choices. 2) We can allow the people and situations around us to control us and live with the choices of others. 3) We can wait for God's guidance to start pulling in the right direction and join Him. The question is basic who is really in control of our lives, who have we put on the throne to call the shoots, whose voice have we chosen to listen to when everything seems out of control?

James shares with us three specific areas where God's control is not just helpful, but necessary if we are going to live our lives in a way that is pleasing to Him: Human Relationships, Life Choices, and obedience to God's word!

11 Don't speak evil against each other, my dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize each other and condemn each other, then you are criticizing and condemning God's law. But you are not a judge who can decide whether the law is right or wrong. Your job is to obey it. 12 God alone, who made the law, can rightly judge among us. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to condemn your neighbor? 13 Look here, you people who say, "Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit." 14 How do you know what will happen tomorrow? For your life is like the morning fog-- it's here a little while, then it's gone. 15 What you ought to say is, "If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that." 16 Otherwise you will be boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil. 17 Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. James 4:11-17 (NLT)

Pressing On:

Dale

What Does It Matter?

Not long ago I read a statement that really caused me to rethink how I look at life and the things I’m involved in. I can’t remember who said it, or where I read it, but this is what they said, “Our greatest fear shouldn’t be of failure, but of accomplishing something that doesn’t matter.” What a powerful idea! It challenges us to leave our fears behind and take chances in order to accomplish something meaningful, something of significance, something of eternal value.

It’s possible for all of us to be really busy and have full lives. Our calendars can be filled to the last second of every day with activities. Our checkbooks can be riddled with entries for things we’ve spent resources on. It is possible for all that to happen, but to have done nothing that mattered. In the end each of us need to know the answer to this question “Did we use what God gave us to make a difference?”

Did the way we spend our time positively effect the lives of other people. Did that time make life easier for someone coming behind us or was it all about what makes our lives safe, secure, and satisfied? Did we use our financial resources to aid others, help other people in times of need, or was it simply to provide for ourselves and our wants?

Do you remember hearing about the conversation between Steven Jobs, former Chairman of Apple Computers and John Sculley, of Pepsico. After a seemingly failed attempt to persuade Sculley to leave Pepsi and help him run Apple computers. Jobs said, “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want to change the world?” Another way of saying that is to ask, is what your doing with your life really making a difference? Sculley must have decided it wasn’t, so he joined the Apple team and the rest is history…

Jesus said the same thing to His followers when He said, “If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give it up for me, you will find it.” Matt 10:39 Was He was saying that if all we do is care about ourselves we will ultimately have lived a life that doesn’t matter? It's my hope that you've come to understand that your life is of priceless value and that you are using it to make a difference that really matters!

Pressing On:

Dale