Remote controls, that one tiny little device somewhere in your living room, near the tv, or under the couch, in the cushions of the chair, are the modern day “septors” of our world. They’re great. Not only do you have in the palm of your hand, the ability to change between hundreds of channels, but you can control any aspect of your tv from volume, brightness, tint, color, stereo. Some remotes also allow you to control your VCR, your Tivo, your DVD player, stereo, lights, etc. You have the absolute control of your electronic devices within the palm of your hand.
Most people like myself at one time or another had individual remotes. One for the tv, one for the VCR, one for the DVD player, and another for the stereo. These came in all shapes and sizes and the one remote that you always needed was never to be found until you didn’t need it any longer. A funny gift that I received one time was two hands that would hold up to 3 or 4 remotes in each hand. It was great. They never got lost.
I love tv. I love watching movies, sports, DVD’s etc. It is truly a weakness that I have but there isn’t anything better than sitting on the couch with Steph my wife next to me, and Maggie our dog on the floor near us, watching either a show on TV or a movie. Its together time that we enjoy.
One thing is for sure, regardless of what we are watching, the remote control is always near. Either she has it and is in control, or I have it and I am in control. This way, if we are watching something we have recorded, we can go past the commercials or skip boring parts of the movie. We can go back and see our favorite parts again or change what we are watching all together.
We are in control.
Yesterday, a buddy of mine was talking with me about control. Not control of his television but control of his life. How he wants God to be in control of everything.
It got me to thinking….
Why can everyone not let God have complete and total control of their lives?
What events in our lives do we let impact us daily?
Then it hit me. I can’t answer these questions for everyone. I can only answer them for myself.
The real question is, who is REALLY in control of my life?
As bad as it sounded, I realized that God isn’t in control. I let too many things of this world affect my witness and my walk with Christ. I let too many things of this world, take the remote control of my life, and change the channels as it wants to. Sure, I can always say I want to read my bible more and grow stronger in Christ, but am I willing to turn off the TV and make it happen? That’s when I started answering my own questions:
We are not in control of our lives, the world is. We may say we give God the control, but do we REALLY? Everything impacts us daily. How the impact affects us is up to us.
So now the question is why. Why do we not let God have the complete and total control?
The cost.
If you could get closer to God by not watching TV on Sunday nights, would you? Sure, that’s easy.
If you could get closer to God by giving up chocolate, peanut butter, and home cooked breakfast would you? Well that’s getting a little tougher but I guess I could.
What about your computer, the internet, your car, or watching your favorite team? Getting tougher all the time, but yes, if I had to.
What about your job, your family, your wife? What if the only way to get closer to God was to give up your children?…………………………………………………………………………………………..
Could you really say, without blinking, that if God told you, to give up your wife and kids, and follow Him, that you would?…………………………………………………………………….
Its easy to say that God would never ask you to do that.
He has before….
He asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. He told Abraham to make an alter and to put Isaac upon it and offer him up to God. Abraham did exactly as God instructed and just before he took his son’s life, God stopped him. He then gave him blessings beyond his imagination because Abraham followed God. He made Abraham the father of many descendants including a carpenter’s son born in Bethlehem on Christmas that goes by the name of Jesus.
So again, why do we not let God have total control when we know He would bless us if we let Him control our lives?
We live for now. We live for cable tv, for movies on demand, for working late to make that extra dollar, for nights out on the town, for doing unto others before they can do to us. We don’t go out of our way to help our neighbor, we look for ways to avoid them in case they needed something. We don’t spend time with family, we let arguments and disagreements come between us and stop talking to them all together. We don’t encourage our build up our coworkers, we cut them down and stab them in the back when they aren’t looking in order for us to get ahead. We aren’t happy with what we have, we want something bigger and better than what our neighbor has.
We have lost sight of where everything comes from. We have forgotten who is in control. We have forgotten that this world, and everything in it, is just temporary. Its just a stopping point on our way to a full life with Christ. Nothing here matters. God has given us everything that we need in our lives. He has not given us any adversity that we cannot overcome, if we let Him have the remote.
I just hope He has His finger on the volume button of my remote, instead of the power button….
Dear God,
Please take control of my life again. Make me usable for You. Let me see when I let things of the world come in and take over control of my daily life. Help me to see that I am not working for now, I am serving for later.
Keith
KWHITE75 