By Kelsey Klepper
My two-and-a-half-year-old is strong-willed. He’s funny, loving, and adventurous too, but he is stubborn. He can throw it down at any time, but typically throw downs don’t happen when he feels like he’s in control of the situation (and sometimes he is, if I’m being honest). Even if he ends up doing what I originally want him to do, but he feels like he has some control and say, then it’s all okay with me.
Unfortunately, I too find that things seem better or that it’s all okay when I feel like I’m in control, regardless of what it is. Life can feel pretty messy and difficult at times. I think during these seasons of difficulty and feeling lost, it’s especially easy to cling to anything that can make us feel safe. Feeling in control can also feel safe. I know far too well that dieting and trying to manipulate my body size is an easy target for control.
Even now, though I no longer live in bondage to food rules and excessive exercise, it still feels tempting to want to control this area of my life with restriction. Does this resonate with you? Have you been grasping for false security by trying to control your body and what you eat? Do you feel safer when you restrict your intake over being able to enjoy a meal out with your friends? Or maybe it’s keeping a very regimented work out routine, but then feeling guilty if you miss a day or a week? That guilt that you feel around food and your body is not safe. That kind of control is not providing real security.
It’s in our broken nature to want control, to feel safe when we’re in control. We’re all full of sin. We’re all broken. But there is good news, because we have a rescuer. We already have true security. It’s not found in trying to control our life or our bodies. We don’t need to control because God already is in control. He willingly takes our brokenness and provides safety even in the times that feel like chaos. God chooses you every time. Will you choose Him instead of the false security of needing control?
[The Lord says,] “Even to your old age and gray hairs, I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you” (Isaiah 46:4).
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew. 11:28-30).
“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3).
