Don’t you realize that everyone who runs in a race runs to win, but only one runner gets the prize? Run like them, so that you can win. Everyone who enters an athletic contest goes into strict training. They do it to win a temporary crown, but we do it to win one that will be permanent.
1 Corinthians 9:24–25
What does it mean when your life is out of control? Who has moved in and made a mess of everything? When you ask Jesus into your life and make him your Lord, everything comes under his control. So then why do things get so crazy? It must be that someone else has been given the keys and allowed to run the place.
Here’s the thing: only you can ever control you or hand the keys of your heart over to someone else. No one can force you to feel or think anything about your life. People can try, and they can work at making your life difficult, but no matter how they hurt you, punish you, slam you, or hate you, they can never control your mind or your soul unless you let them.
So when life seems to be out of control, think about what you’ve gotta do: remember who you’ve given your life to and choose to discipline yourself to think only thoughts that are true and right. Think only what God would have you think. Control your mind and your body by obeying God’s Word. When an athlete disciplines her body, she tells her body that something else is far more important than how it feels. She has decided her goal is greater than her fear, pain, or even suffering. And as a believer that’s what you do when you refuse to let anyone or anything control your mind or your body other than God and his Word.
Every believer can have her body under the absolute control of God. We are, after all, God’s holy temple (see 1 Cor. 6:19), so why wouldn’t we take great care to let him and him alone be in charge? As a believer you are responsible for your body and its actions. Use your body and your mind for good. Trust God and do all you can to bring him glory. It is well within your power!