Control

I have been studying 1 Peter 2 and 3 this week and I keep coming back to one theme. CONTROL. So many of our relational problems are due to control issues. When something happens to us that we cannot control, we react in a negative way. It may be problems with our boss, our spouse, our government, or our teachers, but in all those situations we are called to respond in a way that points people to Christ. I have thought about many of the problems that people have shared with me over the last few months. Most of them deal with this very issue of control.

• We get stressed over situations at work that we have no control over
• We get mad and respond with sarcasm when our spouse says something that hurts us
• We complain about politics to all our friends when we get our tax bill
• We get defensive and bitter when someone tries to use us or manipulate us

In all these situations how should we respond? Look at 1 Peter 3:8

live in harmony, be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate, be humble
Does that describe the way we react?

But we want to be right, we want to be in control, we want the other person to pay for what they have done to us! But Peter teaches us that we are to submit, and honor Christ in how we respond.