What Controls Us Is What We Obey

Then Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you want to return to the LORD with all your hearts, get rid of your foreign gods and your images of Ashtoreth. Turn your hearts to the LORD and obey him alone; then he will rescue you from the Philistines.” [1 Samuel 7.3]

The problem was not so much that Israel was not worshiping the LORD as much as it was that Israel was not worshiping the LORD alone. Unfortunately, this sounds very familiar. Many people 'worship' God today, however, their devotion to Him is not pure. 

What controls us is what we obey.

So, what does control us? Let's just explore this, shall we?

For starters, money controls most people. Whether it controls them by way of debt, greed, or social status, money controls many.

Another thing that controls people is health. How many of us serve the gods of medical science and the general pursuit of health? If I didn't 'cross the line' in the paragraph above about money, I have surely crossed it now with medicine! Lives are controlled by health and the drugs and insurance necessary to support it.

Although my list here is not at all exhaustive, I will conclude with one other significant root "controller" of mankind. That foundational controller is "self." We live in what has become a progressively selfish world. We have given clichés more weight than Scripture in phrases like, "I have to help myself before I can help others." So far has the image of "self" controlled our lives that we even believe we are qualified to forgive ourselves, revealed in statements like, "I can't genuinely learn to forgive others until I can learn to forgive myself."

All these controllers of man are clearly what mankind worships. Oh, we still go to church, right? Well, some do, but the vast majority are so controlled by the worship of money, health, and self that the "Ten Commandments kind" of unadulterated worship of God has fallen far down the list.

Samuel said, "Turn your hearts to the LORD and obey him alone."

If the Bible says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding" how can we not see that money, health, and self all require "understanding?"

Is it any wonder that Jesus drove home this point of confused devotion in demanding we put God first?

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. [Matthew 6.33]

How might our society look upon God and His followers if we refused to trust in anything but God alone?

Father, may there be a return to unadulterated worship, obedience, and trust of You!