Letting Go and Trusting God's Control

The story is told of Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play baseball in the major leagues. On May 13, 1947, during just the second road series of his inaugural season at his home stadium of Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, he committed an error. As the hostile crowd booed, he stood at second base, humiliated. Then, without saying a word, his teammate Pee Wee Reese went over and stood next to Jackie. He put his arm around him and faced the crowd. Suddenly, the fans grew quiet. It is reported that Robinson later said that the arm around his shoulder saved his career. In 2005, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg helped unveil a monument outside the Brooklyn Cyclones' home field depicting that moment. We can summarize and say that Jackie’s career could have been damaged by an error, but it was saved by an embrace.

Like Jackie, we are often confronted with the errors we make in life. Sometimes we are defined, ridiculed, and seen only by our faults, shortcomings, and our inability to live up to the expectations of others. Jackie’s error was in sports, but ours may be in the real game of life. We may be marred by addictions to alcohol, pornography, sex, masturbation, drugs, gambling, and more. What we thought we could control has taken deep roots, now bearing fruits that threaten to destroy our very foundation.

Like Paul, we come to a point where we say, “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out” (Romans 7:18). Paul honestly confessed the struggle between his desires and his actions; his actions betraying his convictions. The goodness he sought eluded him, leading him to acknowledge his powerlessness over his sinful nature.

Moments of powerlessness and loss of control present us with options: to quit on life, to stop seeking help, to cease striving to become who we are created to be. Or we can let go—let go of the lies that it's not an addiction, the lies that we can overcome it by ourselves, the lies that change is impossible, the lies that we are in control. For Jackie Robinson, when his vulnerability was met with taunting and jeering boos, Pee Wee Reese’s arm over his shoulders was the saving grace of his career.

It is hard to relinquish power and control, but when we give them to the One who has ultimate power and control, we are not weakened. Instead, we receive strength and guidance that transform and redefine true power and control. Trust God with your life, and He will fill you with His life. He has come so that you may have life in abundance (John 10:10).