Faith and the control freak

A presenter at a recent conference stated that civil engineers are typically leaders, assertive, take-charge kind of people.  She also said that most of us are somewhere on the autism spectrum.  I couldn’t argue. I would add that many of us are control freaks. 

In many ways, these characteristics are what make us good at our jobs.  Attention to detail, strategic planning, problem solving, ability to analyze and deal with complex problems, and the compulsion to ensure that work is done right, are all critical to ensuring that the infrastructure civilization depends on is reliable, safe and affordable.

The policy in my organization is that no publication, design or drawing goes out until it is reviewed by several people.  We do this because we know that mistakes can happen, and the consequences of mistakes can be expensive and deadly.  We trust each other, but we also question and verify.  Striving to be in control of everything in our purview is a good thing.

But…

Jesus calls his disciples to trust Him.  We are to allow him to govern every detail of our lives.  Everything has to be submitted to his authority.  But, God created me and imbued me with my character and skills.  He made me a control freak.  Do you see the tension here?

Trusting is also hard because He does not often tell us what the plan is, so we are flying blind through both bad times and good. 

To make it all the more complicated, we are also told that we can’t sit back on a recliner and do nothing.  While giving control to God, we are still required to live our lives, make decisions, and do good things.  We have to actively love.  We are not permitted to allow life to drift past us.  Passive fatalism and idleness are not God's intent.

So where do we go with this?  Are we to be two people, one in control at work and another letting it all go at home?  Sounds dangerous.

To start, we have to absorb that God is infallible, so we don’t need to verify His work.  He is also good, in fact, He defines what is good.  He is all-powerful, meaning He can do whatever He wants.  He also loves everyone, including me, more than we can imagine.  This is proven by his incarnation, death and resurrection.

We are able then, to let go the things that we can’t influence to this sovereign, loving, intimate God, while we have to work on the things we can. Sounds trite, but it is true. The real challenge is knowing where the boundary is between these two.  We control freaks will tend to bias toward interfering in things we shouldn’t.

So, please be kind to, and pray for, us while we wrestle with finding the balance between delegation and action.