Freaks

 You're a control freak. Whoa! Don't get upset. All of us, to some degree, are control freaks. We're born that way. Anyone who's ever brought a newborn baby home knows that the battle to exert control starts immediately. We also know that it doesn't get better with age.

Martha, in Luke 10, is the poster girl for control freaks. In this passage, Jesus comes to her home, and while she is busy preparing the meal, her sister Mary is sitting at the feet of Jesus. Martha was beside herself and confronted Jesus; Lord, don't You care that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Beth Moore once spoke on this passage and said that extremely busy people become detached from the reality of God's care. She said the Greek used in this passage of Scripture gives a translation that reads like this; Martha was so crowded with busy things that she had a crowd in her head. I know the feeling and experience of "the crowd." So do you. We care about a lot of things. And they build up....and up and up and up. They do become a "crowd" in our head, constantly bumping into each other. We are in desperate need of "crowd control," but we are unable to provide it. We need Jesus. 

When Martha went to Jesus, she asked Him if He cared. The care she speaks of is a tender care. She wants to know if any of this matters to Him? When have we asked the same? In reply Jesus says, Martha, you're so careful about so many things.....He recognizes her care, but that it is all anxiety driven care. This is the mark of all control freaks. To some degree, we're all anxiety driven, making us, to some degree, control freaks as well. We bring our bundle of problems to the Lord, but we insert ourselves into the problems as well. We want His help, but we want to control how and when He helps, and that it will make sense to us when He does. Hey, this is what control freaks do.

I Peter 5:7 calls us to cast all our anxiety driven cares upon Him, because He does have tender care for us. We can only do so in obedience, trust, and surrender. None of this is natural to the control freak. To do so means we have to acknowledge, as Moore says, that "He's on the throne and we're on the floor." Philippians 4 tells us to pray about everything, which means everything is affected by prayer. We pray, and may even pray about everything, but we fail to pray in humble surrender. A surrender that says, "You are God over this and I yield control of all of it to you." This moves us from the realm of the control freak into the realm of experiencing His peace and rest. A peace that is real and beyond our ability to really understand. 

What might you be accusing the Lord of not caring about recently? How active is the "crowd" in your head? Could it be that you've forgotten who is on the throne and who is to be on the floor.....at His feet? Let Him break the cycle of destruction that's the lot of the control freak. Be careful for nothing, because He cares for everything.

Blessings,
Pastor O