A thought by Jon Tyson from his book, The Burden Is Light: Liberating Your Life from the Tyranny of Performance and Success (p. 60). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)
That is the truth.
Jon says, “It is one of our primary coping mechanisms to fend off heartache and pain. And control is not a bad thing in itself. We should take control over abusive, coercive, and harmful things. But when we become obsessed with managing our existence to the point that we stop trusting God or depending on him, we enter the dangerous territory of seeking to become God ourselves. Our culture is riddled with control mechanisms that facilitate this idolatry.”
He goes on, “Seeking to control God and thus narrate the details of our own story cuts at the heart of our faith. Christianity is not primarily a plan of protection against the brokenness of the world but a relationship with Christ in the midst of it. When we confuse those two, we end up using God as a kind of genie to ward off our existential angst. It’s amazing how often this sort of thinking makes its way into our lives. We were taught as teenagers that if we abstain from promiscuity, God will give us great sex lives and stable marriages. We have been taught that tithing, giving God a tenth of our income, will fend off financial disaster and bring in blessing. If we live with integrity and operate according to biblical principles in the workplace, we can advance and safeguard our careers. But God is not a genie, life is not a blank canvas, and reality is too complex a thing to get our arms around. Using religion in an attempt to manipulate God merely distracts us from the goal of our faith, which is to enjoy an intimate relationship with him.”
He later says, “Saint Ignatius of Loyola said that sin is an unwillingness to trust that what God wants is our deepest happiness. Until we are convinced of this, we will seek to control our own lives. But knowing that God sees all the moments and concerns of our lives, is committed to working all things together for our good, and cares about us deeply gives us the confidence to let go. When we trust God, we are not surrendering to chaotic forces or blind chance. We are surrendering to love. And that act of surrender allows us to be caught in an embrace that will never let us go.”
He really does love us. He really does, and He really is working all things out for good in our lives. Will you show that you really trust Him by surrendering control of your life to Him? Will you?
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