Would you like to take a little quiz? Mark only one answer for each question!

1. Are you

A. a Republican?

B. a Democrat?

C. none of the above?

1. Are you

A. a millionaire?

B. a pauper?

C. none of the above?

1. Are you

A. a genius?

B. an imbecile?

C. none of the above?

1. Are you

A. beautiful?

B. ugly?

C. none of the above?

1. Are you

A. being controlled by God?

B. being controlled by Satan?

And right there, we have to break the pattern for our little quiz. You can occupy all kinds of middle ground in this world. You can be indifferent to politics, middle-class, averagely intelligent, moderately attractive. But when it comes to who controls your life, there is no middle ground. It’s an all-or-nothing proposition.

“Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” - Romans 6:16.

Two choices. Sin unto death. Or obedience unto righteousness. Those are the only choices. Jesus said it in Luke 11:23,

“He that is not with me is against me.”

The book The Desire of Ages contains four major references that explain this truth-pages 125, 258, 324, and 466. You may wish to read them in their entirety on your own, but I will quote from two of them here.

“Unless we do yield ourselves to the control of Christ, we shall be dominated by the wicked one. We must inevitably be under the control of the one or the other of the two great powers that are contending for the supremacy of the world. It is not necessary for us deliberately to choose the service of the kingdom of darkness in order to come under its dominion. We have only to neglect to ally ourselves with the kingdom of light.” - Ibid., p. 324.

“Every soul that refuses to give himself to God is under the control of another power. He is not his own. He may talk of freedom, but he is in the most abject slavery.” - Ibid., p. 466.

This idea sometimes makes people nervous. “But what about our individuality?” they ask. “If we are totally controlled by God, won’t that do away with our power of choice? Won’t we become puppets?”

Actually, it is refusing to come under God’s control that makes us puppets and sacrifices our individuality! Because God’s control brings with it the freedom at any time to choose to pull out. It is the enemy who holds fast those who are under his control, refusing to release them.

As human beings, we are instruments. Romans 6:13 says we can be instruments of righteousness unto God, or instruments of unrighteousness unto sin.

“Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” - Romans 6:13

We sing it: “Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way! Hold o’er my being absolute sway.” But we still may refuse to accept it. Are you an instrument? An instrument is controlled by another. An ax isn’t good or bad in itself. An ax can chop firewood to warm the house for the winter, or it can murder someone. It’s who’s controlling the instrument that decides. A violin can make either heavenly sounds or excruciating ones, depending on who controls it.

We too are instruments. Who is controlling us today?