There is a desire to have control in our life. We feel we must be in control in order to prevent being hurt. Sometimes, control is a positive and rewarding factor. It is like having self-control when you eat so that you do not become obese. Self control in money matters so that you do not go broke and live in the streets. What about control when something is happening in your life?
We get behind the wheel of a car, bike, or we walk knowing we have control over our destination. Sometimes without thinking of the consequences, or we rationalize this may not happen to me. However, for some of us, we can get on an airplane and not have control of flying, but knowing with confidence; we can get to our destination without the fear of crashing.
When something that is out of our norm of life expectations we tend to want to control. What is control? My acronym for CONTROL is Captivated On Not The Release Of Life. When we feel something is not going the way it should we want to be captivated on not letting it go from our live and let life happen. Can this be classified as a control-freak? A freak by definition (Webster’s, 2011) “is a person who has withdrawn from normal rational behavior and activities to pursue one interest or obsession.”
When you add control and freak together you have a person whose behavior indicates a powerful need to control others or circumstances in everyday matters. Sometimes we may feel that we desperately are needing things in our life to go perfect. Therefore, why is controlling so important?
This is a self-imposed and self-taught lie we feed upon everyday. We believe we must be in control in order for our lives to be the way we desire and that implies we know what exactly is good and what is not good. Control is important to us because we do not trust on the reliance of God that it will turn out just fine. Wanting to have control or take control is a false trust in us.
Do you feel you need the following:
• Sense of Order
• Feel that all is well
• Take out the uncertainty
• Provide calm and peace
• Less worry and anxiety
• Feel of power
• No one else can do a better job than I can
If you feel at least two of those then that is considered a control freak. If you want to change then we have to understand what causes this control feeling within us. That underlying core is FEAR. Remember my acronym for fear is forgetting everything about righteousness. We fear because of the unknown failures, embarrassment, insignificant, or we fear because we do not understand. We fear and therefore, we do not understand, and walls and barriers are created in relationships. Sometimes because of fear the control sets in and that chokes out the relationship.
We can be free of CONTROL. We do not have to be captivated on the pursuit of holding onto life. We need to release life and live life; as Paul says, For we do not receive a spirit that makes us a slave to fear, but we have received a Spirit of sonship that we can cry out to Him” (Romans 8:15). Pride also causes us to control (Romans 12:3).
Control in the sense we do not want to release life and let it happen to be not the fruit of the Spirit. We all put up control as a way to get to the means of our destination. Often times causing harm to others and that is not the fruit of the Spirit in control.
Allow God to be the Pilot, Christ as the copilot and the Holy Spirit to be the navigator in your life. When you become a steward is when you can enjoy the flight in life. James states that when we have selfish ambition (control) we will have a disorder (James 3:16). Therefore, we must understand we cannot direct our steps (Jeremiah 10:23). We must look to the wisdom and counsel of the One (Proverbs 19:20-21) and allows his light in (Proverbs 20:27) in order for Him to make our paths straight (Proverbs 3:6).
Let go of CONTOL and the wheel of life. Sit back and have confidence things can work out if you let the control belong to the One and not yourself. It is a constant battle in not wanting to be in control when you enter into unknown realms of inexperience. If you feel the need to control then prayer is the control of releasing life into the Creator.
By Faith (Forging Attitude In Trusting Him)
