Control Freak part 2
Either way Christ's love controls us. Either we don't know (and believe) that we have it, and we do everything we can in order to get it... or we do know (and believe) we have it and we do everything we can in order to share it. Those are basically your two masters. I know the Bible talks about "God and mammon" or God and money. But I think money is just a substitution for love. If you think you can't have love, you try to fill that void with anything and everything else. The book of Ecclesiastes, right? King Solomon tries to find the meaning of life. Vanity, vanity, all is vanity. But when he gets to the end of his experiment he says, "That's the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone's duty. God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad" (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, NLT). And you guys probably know by now how I feel about the judgment of God. "As we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world" )1 John 4:17, NLT). The KJV says, "because as he is, so are we in this world." We don't need to fear God in the sense of being afraid of Him. He has nothing but love for us. His judgment was not against us. It was for us. His judgment was not a death sentence, it was an abudant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life sentence! So we don't need to be afraid of God. The "fear" here is a reverence. And His command is the New Commandment: Love one another as Jesus loves you. That's what we were created to do. Receiving and releasing God's love is how we experience His life. That is how we enjoy the judgment that was passed down. It's all about love. This idea of control that we think we have... man, it's an illusion. It's not something that we can really ever have at all. The only thing I can control is what I believe, and what my belief allows me to do. What you believe WILL manifest itself in your actions. Behavior modification doesn't work. Right believing produces right living. So if you want to try to control anything... control your beliefs. Set your affection on things above, and not on things on the earth. Let Christ's love control you by receiving it and releasing it. Breathing it in and breathing it out. Filling yourself to overflowing with what you've already been filled with. Experiencing the love of God by giving it away. Because that's what love is--love is giving. You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving. So if the conclusion--the final word--is fear God and obey His commands... that's not a "do it or else" situation. That's a "this is what's best for you and everybody else" situation. If you want to experience life to the fullest... it's love. Love is what makes the abundant life abundant. And love is giving. You can't give what you don't have, and you can only give what you do have. So make sure you know what you have. You don't have to--and in fact can't--be in control of everything. But you CAN be in control of what you focus on in your life. What you feed is what will grow. What you magnify in your life is what will manifest in your life. Set your affection. Do things with purpose. For purpose. On purpose. Do things in love. For love. Because of love. Let the love that is inside flow out of you. And in that way, give up the control you think you need in order to experience the life of God!