Day 39 - remote control

I cant find the remote control .   Every day I set it in the same place and it is always right where it is supposed to be.  Until someone comes along and moves it .  Grrrrrrrr.   I recently resorted to tying it to the radiator on a long piece of string - which does work really well.  Until some bright spark decides, for reasons I cant quite fathom, that they need to detach it from the string to..... well..... to what?  What other uses can one find for a remote control except to point it at the telly?  In which case it needs to be near the telly.  Not in another room.  Or on the kitchen table.  Or under the sofa.

I have wasted years of my life looking for lost remotes.  ( well, a good few weeks at any rate)

Today I came home from a long and busy day and was all set to slob out in front of whatever nonsense is on the box and....... no remote.

Anyhow.... that all got me to thinking about a topic Ive covered before in one of my blogs - control.  And how we often exert it on people without really even being aware we are doing it.

The Bible is pretty clear that there is only one person who is in control - and that's God.   We are to be in control of ourselves and leave Him to sort out everyone else.   So whenever we try to manipulate, influence, flatter, seduce, argue, persuade. force, someone else to do the thing we want them to do we are stepping outside the boundaries God sets for us.

Its tricky isnt it?  Because life is all about negotiation and compromise and working in relationship with others to get the job done.  But I think we all know when the general give and take of life suddenly becomes all take and no give.  When you feel you dare not move or speak at work for fear of losing your job.  When you have to tiptoe round people on eggshells so that you dont upset them.  We all know how it feels to be expected to do something we dont really want to do by someone who exerts just that bit more power or influence than we do.   Or when we realise that the person we thought genuinely cared about us was just flattering and cajoling in order to get something from us.
Being manipulated is not nice.  It makes us feel used and worthless.  

Whilst thinking about the subject of control I came across this

and I suppose this gets the the bottom of it all.   In the same way that privacy is a gift and secrecy is a theft ( see previous blog)  control relies on taking things from people.  Jesus came to bring freedom, truth, life, peace, hope and relationship.   He did not come to control us but to love us.  Which sometimes involves letting us go wrong.  Sometimes He lets us not do the thing He wants us to do but  He loves us anyway.  If we are like Jesus then we will react to others in the way He reacts to us.  We will want their good above our own and will never deceive,  pervert, or poison the other just to get our own way.   You might think that you never do any of those things and that this doesnt apply to you.   But I challenge you to think about how you relate to your spouse, your parents, your kids , your church leaders, your boss, your friends.......   How many times do you sulk when you dont get your own way?  Silent treatment.  Arguments and door slamming.  Subtle hints and withholding of favours.  Sucking up and flattery.  Outright lies.  Avoidance and evasion.  Planning and scheming.   We all do at least some of these regularly.   And when we do we are acting like the puppet masters pulling someones strings.   Not good.   Let's try not to do that to other people.  And where we see it happening in our own lives lets bring it to Jesus and ask Him to release us from ties that bind so that He and He alone can be in control of our lives and our destinies