Is Your Need For Control Ruining Your Life?

Coming up on the Men at the Movies podcast, we continue our conversation on the Godfather. When we want to take control, what we’re saying we want to take the place of God in our lives. We think that freedom is the ability to do whatever we want, but then we find ourselves slaves to our feelings and our desires. When we turn to God, and submit to him, we actually find a greater freedom than we ever thought possible. Join us as we discover God’s truth in this movie

The Quotes

  • We can’t choose to go to both the Godfather and God the Father at the same time.

  • His father was reaping the harvest of the life of seeds he had sown.

  • When we want to take control, we are actually saying we want to take the place of God in our lives.

  • We think freedom is to get to do whatever we want, but then you’re just a slave to what you want.

 Themes

  • The difference between coercion and invitation

  • Michael resists the invitation to choose a better life, his pursuit of control actually makes him a slave.

  • The danger of the desire to be in control

  • The paradox of submission to God the Father actually results in freedom

Resources

  • Quote from book between hagen and Fontaine

  • “And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?” - Matthew 16:26 (NLT)

  • Quote from book about wanting to be the man holding the strings

  • “Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.” - Romans 8:18 (NLT)

Questions

  • What decisions have shaped your life?

  • Where do you feel like God is the one pulling the strings, and maybe hasn’t done a good job?

  • How do you try to take control of the strings of your life?

  • When do you feel powerless and helpless, like a puppet on a string? How do you react to that?

  • Where is it difficult to relinquish control?

More info

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Edited and mixed by Grayson Foster

Logo and episode templates by Ian Johnston

Audio quotes performed by Britt Mooney, Paul McDonald, and Tim Willard, taken from Epic (written by John Eldredge) and Song of Albion (written by Stephen Lawhead).

Southerly Change performed by Zane Dickinson, used under license from Shutterstock.

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What’s Your Response to Power?

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Seeking Justice in an Unjust System