Control Freak | Crosstraining 3.9.15

Proverbs 3:5-6 For a few years while I was in college, I worked in the marketing department for my school. I would help design flyers, postcards, and pretty much anything else that had to do with marketing on campus. It drove me nuts how much my bosses would micromanage us. They would often send work back over and over again with small changes that added hours to the work. In the end, the end product was almost exactly like it was a few hours earlier. The fact that they wanted to control every little detail drove me nuts. I remember one day, though, when a new guy was working with us. He designed a flyer that wasn’t the way I would have done it. I caught myself trying to control his project the same way my bosses tried to control mine that caused me so much frustration. It’s easy for us to spot people who are controlling. This is especially true if those people are controlling us. We recognize it, and we are often quick to point it out (usually behind the person’s back, but sometimes to their face). While it’s easy to recognize the control freak in other people, it’s not always so easy to recognize it in ourselves. Many of us would even say that we aren’t that controlling. But, if we were truly honest with ourselves and evaluated our lives, we would see that, deep down, we believe that our way is the best way, so our way it should be. The problem is that God didn’t create us to have control in every aspect of our life. God’s design for us is to trust Him with all of our heart and acknowledge Him with all of our ways. What this means is that we allow Him to direct our path. We allow Him to be the one who controls the course of our life. For many of us, this is a scary proposition because, whether we want to admit it or not, we are control freaks. But, God says He will direct our paths. His ways our better than our ways. It’s time to let go of the reins and allow God to take control of all of our ways. // TWO-A-DAYS // GO A LITTLE FARTHER WITH YOUR DAILY DEVOTIONS // Go through these questions with your spouse, kids, or friend, or you can even journal about the answers to these questions:

1. What was the best part of your day?
2. What was the toughest part of your day?
3. Where did you mess up today?
4. Where did you see God today?

Reflect: Why do you think it’s hard for us to trust God with “all of our heart” and to acknowledge him in “all of our ways” (everything we do)? Why is It easier to just trust Him with some of our heart and some of our ways? Pray: Share with God the things you try to control that you would like to give over to Him to control as you begin your prayer time today. READ THROUGH THE NEW TESTAMENT: Today’s Reading: Hebrews 2]]>