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Today as we begin our Advent journey to Bethlehem, we are going to look at control. By control, I mean who exactly is in charge of our lives. While each one of us from Adam and Eve on down have been given the gift of freewill, it is how we choose to use this gift in our lives that determines whether or not we are living our lives in accordance with the will of God. Now some may think that all Christians are living their lives in accordance with the will of God, but the scriptures make it clear that even the very elect can be deceived by the temptations of this world and go astray. 
For example, in the Second Book of Samuel we are told the story of King David and Bathsheba. King David was living in the will of God until he committed adultery with Bathsheba, who was the wife of Uriah - one of his officer’s wives. Bathsheba became pregnant. All of this happened while Uriah was away fighting for the king. To cover his sin, King David had Bathsheba’s husband brought back from besieging the city of Rabbah in the country of the Ammonites to Jerusalem; hoping that Uriah would sleep with Bathsheba, his wife. But Uriah refused to go to his home and enjoy his wife, while his men remained in the fields fighting. Instead of going home, Uriah slept outside the palace gates with the king’s servants.
The king’s servants reported to the king what Uriah had done and that he had refused to go to his home. So the king had Uriah brought before him and asked him why he had not gone to see his wife. Uriah replied,
“The ark and Israel and Judah live in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field; shall I then go to my house, to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As you live and as my soul lives, I will not do this thing.”
Then King David got Uriah drunk in hopes that Uriah would go to his home and spend the night with Bathsheba, but Uriah went and slept with the servants instead. When King David heard that Uriah for the second night in a row had not gone to see Bathsheba, he became angry and sent word to his commander Joab concerning Uriah. Joab followed King David’s orders and sent Uriah to the front lines of the fighting. Uriah was killed by the enemy’s sword under David’s instructions.
Then the Lord God spoke to Nathan the prophet and told him all that David had done against the Lord. Afterwards Nathan went to the king and told David that there was a rich man in his kingdom who had a traveler come to his house. The rich man did not want to kill one of his own lambs for dinner so he stole the only lamb from his neighbor who was a poor man.
Upon hearing the story, King David began angry and wanted justice for the act of selfishness of the rich man toward the poor man. Nathan told David that he, the king, was the rich man and that Uriah was the poor man. David, who had many wives, had stolen Uriah’s only wife. Nathan’s words convicted David of his sins and he repented. Because of David’s repentance Nathan told David that God would spare David’s life, but that the child conceived in adultery would die.
King David, whom God loved and had blessed greatly, broke two of the Lord’s Ten Commandments, because he forgot whom he served. He allowed his fleshly desires to direct his actions, instead of submitting to the will of God for his life. Because of David’s sins, Bathsheba’s and David’s baby died even though David repented of his sins. The scripture reads:
“Then David confessed to Nathan, "I've sinned against God."
Nathan pronounced, "Yes, but that's not the last word. God forgives your sin. You won't die for it. But because of your blasphemous behavior, the son born to you will die."
When we follow after our fleshly desires like David did, instead of living in obedience to God’s commandments; although we may repent, we still have to live with the consequences of our actions. This is something that we do not like to hear in that God holds us accountable for our sins. Every sin we commit has a consequence. Like the old saying goes, “If you don’t like the heat, then stay out of the kitchen.”
In the Old Testament reading for today from the Book of Isaiah, the prophet reminds the people that God our Father is the potter and we are the clay. Our lives are not our own. We are put here on earth to do the will of the Lord not to follow after our own desires. Yet too many of us are more interested in being in charge and having our own agenda followed, instead of seeking the will of the Lord in all things. When we think that we know best, we need to watch out. For when we follow our own egos, we are placing ourselves on the same level as God. As we have seen with the example of King David, this is a dangerous road to take. It can lead to great sorrow and end up harming the very ones whom we think we are protecting.
In St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he encourages the believers to remain faithful to the calling of God on their lives so that we may be found innocent living lives beyond reproach on the Day of Judgment when the Lord Jesus returns in all of His glory. Just as God always remains faithful to us in doing what is best for us so too are we called to remain faithful to God living our lives in accordance with His will. This means seeking not after our own desires, but seeking to please the Lord Jesus Christ in all that we do. For some of us this will mean over coming temptations of the flesh while for others it may mean putting God first in our lives.
In the gospel reading for today from Mark, we are warned to be ready at all times for we do not know when the Lord is returning. For how can we know, when even the Son of God, Jesus the Christ does not know the day or the hour. As Jesus told His disciples,
"But the exact day and hour? No one knows that, not even heaven's angels, not even the Son. Only the Father. So keep a sharp lookout, for you don't know the timetable. It's like a man who takes a trip, leaving home and putting his servants in charge, each assigned a task, and commanding the gatekeeper to stand watch. So, stay at your post, watching. You have no idea when the homeowner is returning, whether evening, midnight, cockcrow, or morning. You don't want him showing up unannounced, with you asleep on the job. I say it to you, and I'm saying it to all: Stay at your post. Keep watch."
As we begin our Advent journey, we all need to be mindful of the fact that the Day of the Lord could be at any time. So it is vital that we wake up to the reality of who is really in charge of our lives. As Christians we have been bought by the precious blood of Jesus and we are no longer our own, but are now the Lord’s. May we begin this Advent with repentance in our hearts and submission in our souls to live our lives according to the will of the Lord.
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