Out of Control | Faculty Commons

Phil Bishop

Kinesiology

University of Alabama

[Nov 25, 2012]

“It is important to know that there is not just one thing that is causing stress in our lives, but it is a number of things. The key is building in a sense of control-ability in small ways.” Dr. BT, U of X Professor of Psychology, as quoted on ABC News.

So what does Professor BT expect? That we get a “sense” of controlling things, or that we really control them? It seems that the “sense” to which she refers is a delusion at best. In other words, good professors hope to fool ourselves into thinking we have a measure of control. But in reality, control is ever out of our grasp. James 4:13-16 says that although we plan for tomorrow, life itself is NOT in our control.

Let’s consider what we can control:

our emotions – Well, MOST of the time. Or, at least I can hide them, but I guess I can’t really totally control them. They get “out in front”” on many occasions.
our attitude – At least, I can control it a bit, when I want to, but thank you very much, I am pretty happy with my attitude and you should butt out.
our tongue – Wait a minute – forget that previous paragraph.
our health – I attempt to control it by exercising, eating right, resting and all that stuff, but one car running a red light can kabosh all that.

It’s far easier to list the things I cannot control:

weather
the stock market
inflation
job security
my grown children’s’ decisions
attitudes and behaviors of others
my friends
my colleagues
my students
my research funding
my selection for any number of awards (that I greatly deserve)
oh yeah, my ego, and lots of other stuff

So I guess the best I can hope for is to control my “sense” of control (i.e. to control my delusion). But I can’t control kidding myself too long. I have no control over what matters most. I have little control over family, friends, the Christian Church or the Holy Spirit.

And, I’m okay with that (or perhaps I should be). Control is way over-rated, even by our Psych colleague quoted above. God is sovereign. Control is in His capable hands, not mine.

The message to Christian profs is clear. We have a great opportunity to impact the world for Christ. We have talents to do it. If we get caught up worrying about our next pay raise or promotion, we may be taken out of the fight without having done anything. This might just be a strategy the enemy employs knowing we are among the weakest when it comes to relinquishing control.

So perhaps we can take comfort in being out of control, and just do what God is calling us to do. God is calling us to obedience, and we CAN control how earnestly we respond to that.