Life Doesn't Have a Remote

On our way to church there is a marquee that has short sayings and thoughts on it. This one, here at the beginning of the year, caught my attention.

Life doesn't have a remote
so get up and
change it yourself

That kind of hit home with me. When I was a boy, my Dad had three remote controls for the TV - named Jerry, Doug, and Ralph. Dad would be watching television and a program would end. He wanted the channel changed from 10 to 13, so he'd get one of his remotes to do it. "Jerry! Change the channel!" I'd climb off the floor, switch the channel, and then plop back down again.

We've become so accustomed to remotes for the television, the garage, the lights! Maybe we take that whole idea of remote control to the point that we think we can change our lives without having to be involved in making the change happen.

But changes in our life, especially positive changes, don't happen unless we do something. We have to be involved in the change. We have to decide to do something and then begin to do it.

Someone tolda story about three frogs. It seems three frogs were sitting on a log. One frog decided to jump off the log. The question is, "How many frogs are still on the log?" The answer? Three, because the frog who decided to jump, never did.

Paul says in Philippians 2:12 that we should work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. We need to be working with God to change our lives. God forgives the sins of the past, but we have to make positive choices for the future, and then make those choices become reality. Our lives are a relationship between God and us.

So, get up and change life yourself - with God's help!