Rails 6: Attaching Devise current_user.id to form submissions
Why do we need user_id in params at all? Probably, there is a need to add some context to a current scope. And yes, you're trying to write straightforward logic in a different way.

Here is some suggested refactoring:

class ListsController &lt; ApplicationController
  def new
    build_resource
  end

  def create
    build_resource

    respond_to do |format|
      if update_resource
        # ...
      else
        # ...
      end
    end
  end

  def update
    update_resource
    # ...
  end

  def destroy
    destroy_resource
  end

  private

  def permitted_params
    params.require(:list).permit(:title, :active)
  end

  def resource
    @resource ||= current_user.lists.find(params[:id])
  end

  def build_resource
    @resource = current_user.lists.new
  end

  def update_resource
    resource.update(permitted_params)
  end

  def destroy_resource
    resource.destroy
  end
end


For those pure-CRUD controllers common logic can be easily moved into concern. We've created a gem some time ago https://github.com/cimon-io/unobtrusive_resources