Who’s in Control?

I recently had the opportunity to attend the regional SchH competition for our area. It was a really neat experience to see so many great dog and handler teams. As I watched the dogs perform, I was struck with the idea that most of these dogs were no better than mine as far as their capabilities. Bison could run as fast, jump as high, and obey as well. The main difference is that these dogs had better handlers. People with years and years of experience who had trained them from the time they were 8 weeks old or even earlier. The handlers are the ones who made the dogs as spectacular and as useful as they were. The best dogs on the field were the ones that were the most yielded to their handler. The worst dogs were the ones who tried to do their own thing. One dog was even disqualified for being “disobedient”.

It is the same way with the Christian life. We all have potential, but what makes us useful is our “handler”, God. The more we are yielded to him the better off we are. It is when we try to do our own thing, when we are disobedient, then we lose.

Romans 6:16- “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”

1 Corinthians 6:20- “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.”

2 Timothy 2:20 – 21 “But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. 21If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.“