For Christmas, my family decided that it would be fun to do something together besides sitting around the couch staring at each other between meals. They found some cheap remote control cars and decided it would be fun to make a small race course in the house. Racing could keep us entertained for quite a while, and if that got old, it could always turn into an R/C demolition derby.
When we got the cars out of the boxes, we ran into one problem: all of the cars were on the same frequency. That meant that all of the cars would respond to all of the remote controls. If I hit the “go” button, all of the cars would go, until they got closer to someone else who was giving a different instruction. It was total chaos…it just didn’t work! When each car didn’t have an “authoritative controller” – it was the same as having no controller at all.
I’ve met a lot of people that work the same way. There is no priority or hierarchy in their lives. Every signal they receive gets treated equally. In their minds, the opinion of their friends is as credible as the newspaper which is as credible as the Bible which is as credible as their hair stylist. Their actions are determined by whoever they’re closest to at the moment—rather than what’s really authoritative.
Nobody is immune from this temptation. Even the great apostle Peter forgot his convictions about grace when he found himself in the company of “certain men from James” in Galatians 2:11-14. They overrode what God himself said when he said, “Don’t call unclean what I’ve called clean!” (Acts 10:15).
We need to be constantly on guard to make sure that we are listening to right source. Choose very carefully who holds the remote control to your life!