Self-Control
Hello Masterpiece Family!
Welcome back to another blog post. Throughout the month of August we focused on the fruit of the spirit, but today, I will be unveiling the last fruit, (which is self-control), in a bit more detail.
Self-control is one of the fruits that I believe most people know from Galatians 5:22-23 where Paul lists the fruits of the spirit. I believe that people tend to see self-control as one of the ‘not so important’ fruits of the spirit, but I am here to tell you today that this fruit is extremely important. The Bible mentions it in a variety of contexts; controlling what you say (controlling the tongue), controlling your reactions/attitude (not getting angry, controlling your sinful desires etc. the list goes on.
So, as I usually do, we’ll start with looking at what it actually means.
Self-control: the ability to control oneself, in particular one's emotions and desires, especially in difficult situations.
This is the dictionary definition and what really sticks out to me is the ‘especially in difficult situations.’ This is when you know you’ve got very good self-control.
Now looking at what the Bible says.
In James 1:26, James says ‘If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.’ How powerful! So, this tells us that even if you are doing all the other fruits of the spirits, or think you are, but you cannot control your tongue; it doesn’t mean anything. I understand this because if you look at the other fruits, such as Love. How can you have Love if you do not have Self-Control? How can you speak horribly to people and get angry quickly if you claim to have the fruit of Love? It can’t work. Anger and Love cannot co-exist. So, if you think you have Love but you lack Self-Control and you are quick to speak foully and get angry quickly, do you really have Love? The Bible even tells us that God is slow to get angry. Of course, He is! Because He is Love! because God is good and he has so much love for us, we are able to find mercy within Him.
Below is another example we get in the Bible of Self-Control.
Now imagine you are arrested for a crime that you did not commit. Everyone around you is convinced it was you. They’re accusing you of all these wild things. You literally only have a few people that believe you and are on your side. You would be furious right? You would be angry and screaming and shouting to defend your name, your pride and your status, right?
Now look at Matthew 27:12. ‘But when the priests and the elders made their accusations against him, Jesus remained silent.’
Jesus was literally in that situation and the Bible tells us that he remained silent. He didn’t lose his cool, he didn’t start spewing out anger to ‘defend’ himself. He just remained silent and trusted God. He knew that God was with him, He knew he was innocent, guilty in the eyes of the people then but in Gods eyes he was innocent. So, He remained silent. This is how we need to be! We need to be so in tune with God that we can remain silent when accused rather than screaming back and shouting back and getting angry. We need to be so confident that God is in control and not us, that he will deliver us and fight for us.
Self-control also comes into our lifestyle. Without self-control we would be living a very sinful life. In Romans 6:12, Paul tells us ‘Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires.’ When you allow you flesh to control what you do, your lifestyle will not be Godly. We need to constantly pray for the holy spirit to be within is so that we can live a lifestyle that is pleasing to God. Otherwise we will be fooling ourselves thinking we are pleasing God when we are not.
I pray that you receive the Holy SpIrit daily and conquer your flesh so that you may live with all the fruits of the spirit. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Stay blessed.
Marlyse
Scriptures referenced:
Galatians 5:22-23
James 1:26.
Matthew 27:12.
Romans 6:12