…for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. II Timothy 1:7 ESV)
Self-Control
Some things actually are out of our control. Among those things are gravity, wind-force, heat in summer, cold in winter, and someone else’s sin.
Yet the most frequent excuse or explanation we offer for unrighteousness is: “I just could not help it.”
When the fact is, we usually can. Christians more than others, actually. Because Christians have been given a gift by God… the gift of self-control.
While we will sin until heaven, we can choose to do the right thing. Though our ‘old man’ has some small grip on us yet, it is a weak grip, and our Jesus is stronger. While we will not achieve perfection before God until we stand before God, we can be obedient, righteous, and Christlike.
Not because we can do those things.
But we have been given the gift of self-control. A gift that we use less often than we can. It is easier, it seems, to give up. It is easier, it seems, to focus on yesterday’s failures. It is easy, it seems, to believe Satan’s lies that we are worthless worms, rather than adopted children of God.
And HE has given us self-control.
It is not easy to control ourselves. Because the way to self-control is actually surrender to Christ. Mental fortitude is not self-control. Strong will is not self-control. Sweaty brows and clenched teeth are not self-control.
Self-control is resting in the knowledge that God has given us the gifts of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness. And in the same way, He has planted the seed of self-control in our new hearts.
And from His gift, we can have self-control. We have to learn how to use it, little by little. It takes practice, just like the gift of a guitar, or a cookbook, or a car. But the seed will bear fruit.
Self-control is a fruit.