What Controls You?

Not sure why but this thought has been running in my head for about a week. I wrote the title of this on the 14th but never got around to writing it out. This is a tough subject and one that can take people in many different ways.

The other question to add on top of that is why does it control you. Truth be told, many things control us in different ways on different days, but as long as it is inline with our Why then we are in a good position. The problem arrives when you ask that why question. That is when we realize we are being controlled by something we do not want.

Here I sit on a Saturday morning typing this out while my kids rustle around upstairs getting ready for the day ahead. I’ve been up since 6 this morning, it is now 9:30. At this point I read the Bible, prayed, worked out, made breakfast and got cleaned up and ready for the day. Up to this point I have done as I have always done, aligned to God first before anything, then taking care of me, my health and just that mental break I need. Now I’ll shift to the kids schedule as I head out to basketball and the family’s needs for the day.

Now as you dig deeper into this question, you get into decisions you make throughout the day and the control that causes that. Marketing teams like to control our decisions, influencing us with the latest and great gadgets or inventions. The electronics industry has become professional at this, convincing us every year to buy the next one. I remember when I asked for a Kindle for Christmas. One would think with the investment in a device that the cost of books would go down, no paper, minimal distribution, but in reality it is quite the opposite. We spend 100s on new devices year over year, to get the new features they add and then pay the same for something electronic that we used to have a tangible copy of. While I love reading on my Kindle at night, I lose the ability to share a book with a colleague as they only allow sharing to be limited, despite many factors in that.

The Bible is pretty clear on what should control us in 2 Cor 5:14 For the Love of God constraineth us… Our love for Christ should hold us back and control us from committing sin, that is a good control. Another counter example is Proverbs 22:7 “The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.” We can be controlled by who we owe.

A thief typically steals because he owes someone something or needs something to get something. A thief is controlled by what controls them. We need to be in control of ourselves, our finances and the influences around us. In other words, control what you can control, don’t let it control you. Fear can control you. I saw a comic going around that shows a TV screen with arms stretched out dumping a trash can into a person’s head that is sitting there gazing into it. You could do the same with a social media feed or just about anything. The trash we are dumping into our minds is causing us a fear and be controlled. Make decisions that we otherwise would not make. I’ve written about fear in length as I believe most media and influences around us use fear to get us to do things that we otherwise would not do.

I write all this for you to take note of the things around you that control you. Take an inventory through the day, are the good or bad controls. What can you do to separate yourself and put the right controls in your life, while getting rid of the wrong ones.