Ah, my friend, it’s a sad story but I’ve got to tell it to you for your own good.
The day this fellow came to work for me–let’s call him “It”–things really looked up.
“It” was a hard worker and he helped me towards my goals. A very useful servant, It was.
Then one day this resourceful fellow remarked, “I could help you get what you want a bit quicker. Just let me show you how.”
I was a bit hesitant but I wanted the thing so bad, I just let old It get more involved. And it seemed we got closer and closer to the goal. Never quite arrived, though. And It would keep telling me, “Just give me a bit more authority in your life and I’ll get you there.”
And a bit more and a bit more …
Well, today, I still haven’t gotten what I wanted but I’m no longer the boss around here. It is. I couldn’t quit if I wanted to. It won’t let me. He’s no longer my servant. He’s taken over.
So, like a gambler throwing good money after bad I get in deeper, and pay more dearly for one small breath of joy. Afterwards, though, I suspect that joy is just a scrap tossed to a hungry dog to keep him around. If It gives me what I want, he’ll no longer control me.
My friend, a bit of advice: Don’t let It have control. Don’t let anything but God control you.
When men and women compromise in the sexual area of their lives, “It” eventually controls them–pornography, adultery, sex before marriage. When “It” is boss we find ourselves doing things we’d never even dreamed of.
Others want to be rich and sell out to “It.” It robs them of everything that’s really important.
Some people who want to be important and sell and sell their souls to It to achieve that importance.
I’ve seen people who want another person so badly that we make a deal with It. When they what they want, that person controls them–actually It controls them.
A baseball player talked of the “high” he got in making a good play. Later, when he was injured and couldn’t play, he fell into drugs to get the same high, to get It.
When we give ourselves to our job or even our family, we make decisions based on that. Some have given up a close relationship with God to build a house, thinking, “When we finish, we’ll get back in church …” But they are different afterwards. Often, they never really go back, at least not with the zeal they had before.
They sold out to It.
When something else controls us “It” changes who we are because at the first we gave up something important to have it. We were masters but we made a deal with “It”. When we let something else control us, we have to change part of our core–our beliefs, our attitudes, our hopes and dreams–to justify our actions.
We become someone else. God warns us:
“Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.” (Prov. 4:23, Amplified) “Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that’s where life starts. The Message
We woke up one day to find that we were the dog on a leash and It called the shots.
We became addicts–work addicts, sex addicts, glory addicts, money addicts, security addicts, fun addicts, even family addicts.
If you’re there we need to stop and think. Evaluate. Be honest. Not fakey honest but really look at your life to see what you’re living for. Then move back to that place where God is center, God is the first.
We’ll still have family, a job, and money, but God will be the boss–not It.
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Hmmm …
Chris Tomlin speaking of how Louie Giglio impacted his life: “Everybody needs somebody who believes in you.”