Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Control (01/30/06)
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TITLE: Control or Controlling? That's the Question | Previous Challenge Entry
By Gee Jae Arnold
02/04/06 -
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How is control demonstrated in a society that condemns everything that it represents? To control means to have power, to manage, rule, restrain, monitor, influence, and set limits. In our permissive society these terms have become negative and obsolete along with being in charge, running things, having power over, being in command, direct and teach. They have been replaced by the more the “positive” passive and permissive terms like facilitator instead of teacher, colleague instead of manager, peace keeper instead of police, friend instead of parent, etc.
The clear lines of demarcation have been blurred to give the false appearance that we are all in charge, and we all have power and we all manage and rule together. We call it teamwork or the people friendly approach. In and of itself, this is a wonderful concept in the proper setting and circumstances. But in real life, there is always someone who is designated as the one in control. Understanding the difference between being in control and having control is a challenge to many modern thinkers. How to delineate the line without going overboard? That’s a real challenge.
We must begin by redeeming the word control from the annals of the negatives and restore it to the chronicles of positives. As believers in Jesus Christ, we know that the Bible teaches that we are to have authority and dominion over many things. These are very strong words for the pseudo gentile to whom the mere mention of such words would be an affront even though the Bible teaches that we are to “…fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Additionally, we are to take captive our own thought that do not exalt the Lord; restrain our tongue; control our words by speaking only Truth; and control our actions.
Once the word “control” is redeemed we must begin to see it as a good thing. Being in control is more virtuous than lacking control. While having self-control is a positive characteristic we should all strive to develop being controlling is a negative characteristic that we should all try to avoid. While people with controlling personalities tend to be unbearable to those they try to control, we do respect people who demonstrate at least a modicum of self-control. Where is the line that separates being in control from being controlling?
It has been my observation that the best control apart from self-control is the one that is given. Though we live in a society that negates our natural inclinations to control by making it an undesirable trait, the fact is that someone is always in control of any given situation. Though a natural human God given characteristic, the desire to control can be played out as manipulative, tyrannical, confrontational or sweet and passive, though the goal is the same, to control. True control begins with self and it is always accompanied by its two companions accountability and responsibility.
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