Breaking the Control Cycle

Last week, we discussed the “Control Cycle,” the desire we all have for control, including the control of sins and destructive behaviors that we all struggle with. The specific sins and behaviors may be different for each of us, but we all have them – they’re a part of our human nature.

John Lynch, Bruce McNichol and Bill Thrall, authors of The Cure: What if God Isn’t Who You Think He Is and Neither Are You, point to what can break and help us escape the cycle.

And it sounds too good to be true. (Note I didn’t say easy; I said good.)

In Protestant churches, we generally don’t do confession. Part of it likely has to do with the fact we believe that only God can forgive sins, and the idea of a person – a priest or minister – absolving us doesn’t fit. The priest in the confession booth acts as God’s agent. Protestants remove the middle man.

Of course, we’re also likely to remove the confession part of the process, too.

The Sunday worship service at my own church includes a time of silent prayer and confession. It doesn’t last long; there are always things I know and things I don’t and hope might be brought to mind. But the time is brief, and then we’re on to a hymn. I don’t necessarily want to dwell on sins, but I also don’t want to give them a quick acknowledgement and move on.

I often fell like I have to do something else.

And it may be that I do.

I need to tell someone.

The secret to breaking the cycle of control, say the authors of The Cure, is telling someone.

Telling someone.

Do I dare call this “confession?”

“The power of sin is broken simply in telling,” they say. And the telling can happen at any point along the cycle. Once you tell it, the cycle stops.

This isn’t “name it and claim it.”

This is more like “name it and break it.”

Tell someone the moment you feel vulnerable.

Tell someone the sin you feel vulnerable to commit. Speak it aloud.

Tell someone, and live in the light.

Led by Jason Stsyszen and Sarah Salter, we’ve been reading The Cure. This is the second of two discussions on Chapter 4, “Two Solutions.” To see more posts on this chapter, please visit Jason at Connecting to Impact.

Photograph by George Hodan via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.