Have you ever pressed the button at a crosswalk and still had to wait for the light to change. Well, you’re not alone. Many of the buttons are dummies; it’s estimated that around 80% of them in New York City don’t work. Allowing them to work would mess up computer controlled traffic flow, but having he buttons still helps prevent jay walking. You may have had a similar experience with the door-close button for an elevator; many of them are either dummies or only work after a fairly long time delay. This is to allow time for waiting people to safely enter. Apparently, there are people who will press the door-close button, even when there are people wanting to enter and having the buttons relieves their impatience. To the best of my knowledge, the door-open buttons usually work. Subway train door-close buttons and computer file down-load progress bars are two other examples. Office thermostats are also often dummies. One engineer justified them because he was “fed up with complaints from sweaty men and shivering women.” One semester I had such an office; not only that, in a nonsensical attempt to save energy, the switch to the overhead lights didn’t work until 8:00 am, when classes started. Fortunately, the wall outlets worked and I bought a desk lamp.

You have probably noticed that all off the non-working buttons mentioned above are designed to give people a false sense of control. They depend on the fact that we want to be in control, and they “work.” They tend to prevent some undesirable behaviors, or at least lessen the number of complaints.

We also want to be in control of our personal religious life, and it’s very ironic that the best way to gain this control is to give it up. This can happen in our secular lives as well; it’s much safer to fly from Orlando to Seattle than it is to drive; that is, the best way to control our safety during the trip is to give up the control of driving. God doesn’t have buttons that don’t work, but He does instruct us to surrender our wills to Him. Even in the Old Testament He tells us to do so; in Proverbs 3:5-6 we read, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” This same appeal is implicit throughout the New Testament Gospel story. Please read an explicit one in Mark 8:34-35 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Jim