The Fruit of The Spirit ~ Self Control

SELF-CONTROL
Self-control – the last virtue described in the Fruit of the Spirit. What could be the most definitive verse in the Bible on self-control says: “The grace of God has appeared, offering salvation to all people. It teaches us to say ‘NO’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Titus 2:11

God’s grace teaches us to live self-controlled lives in this present age. Society teaches a very different message: Do what makes you feel good! Say yes to ungodliness and worldly passions, and in fact the lines are blurred so craftily that ungodliness is often, in this world’s vernacular, ‘righteous.’

Wikipedia, the online free encyclopedia, says it this way: “Self-control is the ability to control one’s emotions, behavior and desires in order to obtain some reward later, and is the capacity of efficient management to the future.” Wow! The capacity to efficiently manage the future! Self-indulgence offers immediate gratification, but it is momentary and fleeting satiation while self-control is tantamount to the shrewdest possible investing for the future.

Proverbs 16:32 says it is better to be a patient person than a warrior, and a person of self-control than one who conquers a whole city. Said the other way around, Proverbs 25:28 states that a person who lacks self-control is like a city whose walls have been broken through, or in other words one that has been conquered by the enemy. Oh how tempting this world makes it to be the conquering warrior at all costs, at any cost, but the investment of the future is best and most efficiently managed through the Spirit of self-control. Lack of self-control, in the end, is the depletion of integrity and the dissolution of every good thing.

This has got to be the most challenging of the Fruit of the Spirit, for it has the potential to adversely affect every other one. Love becomes lust and self-aggrandizement without self-control. Joy is misconstrued as pleasure in the absence of self-control, and death lies in its wake. Peace, well there really is no peace where self-control is not practiced, rather chaos ensues. Patience is not possible if self-control is a missing part of the equation, for people and circumstances will try our patience until anger gets the best of us. Kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness also require a measure of self-control. Sometimes it’s easy to exercise these virtues, but we are not always thrust into easy situations, and it is in the difficult ones that we are afforded the greatest opportunity to be the most effective servants.

Self-control is not part of our natural self. We teach the importance of self-control to our children from the earliest age, and Titus 2 tells us we never outgrow the need to learn it. “Keep teaching it to older men, older women, and to younger men as well so that in everything we set them an example by doing good . . . .then those who oppose you will be put to shame because they have nothing bad to say about you.” Out of this we glean two basic reasons to exercise self-control; first it sets a good example, and second we cannot be slandered by the opposition because they won’t be able to find anything bad to say about us. I see a third compelling reason -- self-control determines the effectiveness of every other Fruit of the Spirit when challenging circumstances and people cross our paths.

For the joy set before Him Christ endured the Cross, despising its shame, and then He sat down at the right hand of the throne of God where He is ever interceding for us as we serve our world a feast of His gracious love. That’s what Hebrews 12:2 reminds us, and if He had not exercised such self-control we would have no eternity to look forward to. Actually, the Fruit of the Spirit would be a null and void ideology, for ungodliness would then easily quash every good intention. Love, Joy and Peace would not fill our innermost being. But if I fix my eyes on Jesus, who though He despised the shame associated with the Cross, chose redemption for all of mankind over momentary gratification, then I will rock my world with His love, His joy, His peace and the real ‘circle of life’ has the opportunity to change people’s lives – to efficiently and effectively invest our lives today for the sake of the future – for the sake of His honor and glory.

May you walk in the full measure of God’s purpose for your life, so that you experience His Love, Joy, Peace, Provisions and Presence without limit and so you will experience and become what you are purposed to be - His Servant