You may be thinking I have got it all wrong, but hear me
out. Doubt, unbelief and mistrust
are all opposites of trust…yes, I know this. But I believe control is one of them as well.
If I can’t TRUST that you will go to the grocery store to
get the proper food for dinner, I’m portraying that I have no CONTROL over the
situation, I can’t CONTROL what you will pick, thus leading to the sheer fact
that I can’t trust your choices.
If I can’t TRUST that you will relay a message to my friend correctly,
I’m simply telling you I want to CONTROL what will be said and therefore I will
send the message because I can’t CONTROL what you will say. If I think you will do or say something
I won’t like, I’m trying to CONTROL an outcome by placing my negativity on a
situation…a very dangerous type of CONTROL.
Now lets take that a step further. Jesus says, “TRUST in God, TRUST also in me.” (John
14:1) We can’t see God, we don’t
always know what He is up to, we never met Jesus face to face, flesh to
flesh…How could we possibly TRUST in Him?
How can we TRUST someone to do something when we can’t see or hear what
happens?
Groceries and Jesus, how could these possibly relate. Really, there is no difference in me
TRUSTING you to get the right groceries and me TRUSTING God to do what He wants
with my life. Yes, I know two
different spectrums, but at the end of the day the root is CONTROL. Will I give up my CONTROL to get
exactly what I want at the store to TRUST in your judgment? I have three choices:
1)
Believe that you can’t do it and place doubt over you and
worry on myself, inevitably setting you up for failure and me up for
disappointment
2)
Just do it myself because I know in my own mind you can’t do
it right, inevitably again leaving no room for personal or relational growth
3)
Or I can TRUST you; release my need for CONTROL and know that
even if you don’t do it right we will grow and learn together, and maybe, just
maybe allow my eyes to be opened to a better way of doing things, a way that
only you could teach me.
TRUST is not meant to be given away flippantly, but it is
meant to be given away. Yes, operating by way of number three allows room for
error, but without error we would never know how we could do it better, how we
could grow further. But, the great think about picking number three with Jesus
is that HE WILL ALWAYS DO IT RIGHT, we don’t need to worry about error on His
part. It may not always appear that way to us, but when we give up our need for
CONTROL that tells Jesus that we are TRUSTING in His ways and believing that
His ways are better than ours no matter what. Who better to put our TRUST in
than the creator of our very being?
If I try to CONTROL everything, I will always be let down. Nobody was made the same as I, therefore
nobody will do ANYTHING the exact way I would do it.
Take a moment today and ask yourself what your trying to
CONTROL that is not yours to CONTROL?
Do you try to CONTROL your spouse, friends, parents, etc bringing upon a
lack of TRUST, which will inevitably bring dissention in many sinful ways? Do you want wrongdoing to CONTROL you
or do you want the Perfect One to CONTROL you by giving you love, joy, peace,
patience, goodness, faithfulness, kindness and discipline?
Cindy and us girls!
TRUST comes from within. We will never be able to CONTROL what others do or say, but
we can TRUST in Jesus. If someone
does something deceitfully or purposely wrong, it’s not our job to make it
right, it’s God’s job to judge. We
have got to release CONTROL and TRUST again. We will be let down and we let others down, but it’s our job
to get back up, forgive and change…it’s contagious, others will see this and
will want to live by way of TRUST instead of CONTROL.
