When I was a kid, I had two friends, Tim, and Dave Collier, who were brothers. Our families had been friends for years, but they lived over two hours away from us, so we didn’t visit often. When we did, we would usually spend the weekend with them or they with us. I always liked it best when we went to their house because it was a large property with lots of places to play, including an old barn.
On one visit, I was excited to discover Tim and Dave had each gotten a horse. We went immediately to the stable where I found Dave’s horse, Shannon, who was a beautiful brown and white animal. Dave taught me how to put on the saddle, bit and bridle and then took me to the pasture to ride. He told me to kick my heals in Shannon’s side to make him go. When I did this, the horse walked about three paces into the pasture then turned and returned to the stable and stopped. Through his laughter at my ignorance of riding a horse, Dave gave me this instruction, “You have to show this horse who is in control!”
This is a good lesson for men who are seeking to honor God in our lives. But we first need to answer the question, “Who or what is truly in control of our lives?” The Sunday School answer, of course, would be to say that God is in control. But we need to be honest and evaluate this for a minute.
In his letter to a young man, Timothy, the Apostle Paul gives a definition of a man who wants to be controlled by God. In 1 Timothy 3:3, he says this man is “not given to drunkenness”. To the Ephesians, Paul says, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” There are two important messages concerning the control of our lives in these words. (Ephesians 5:18)
The first is what to avoid. The direct message is the danger of drunkenness. The sin of drunkenness is a matter of control. When drunk, you are controlled by alcohol and thus, no longer able to make logical or godly decisions. We recognize the potential of danger here. But alcohol is not the only threat we need to be aware of in the battle for control of our lives. Some of us allow our calendars or clocks to control us. Instead of using our time for the purposes of God, we allow the expectations of this world to squeeze out God. For others, the controller of our lives may be food or money. Still others are controlled by the need to be liked or accepted by others. The list of controlling influences could by huge.
This brings us to the second message God has for us in Ephesians 5:18. “INSTEAD”, we are to be filled or controlled by the Spirit of God. This is a challenge for us to say, do and think only what is in the will of God’s Spirit. This is not waiting for an audible voice from heaven before we say or do something. It is simply being a man so in tune with God’s Word and his will described in his Word, that we act only in accordance with his plan.
By the way, we can’t have two masters. We cannot be fully controlled by God’s Spirit and allow other influence to have a foothold. In God’s economy, it’s all or nothing. The good news is that when we submit to the control of God’s Spirit, we are walking into protected territory. When we choose to give control to other influences, those influences govern the outcome; they have control. There is no security in depending on those outcomes being good. However, under God’s control, there is never a worry, we are always safe. This is true, not only for today, but for all eternity.