Day Ten ~
SELF-CONTROL
Key Bible Verse-
Titus
2:111-12
For the
grace of God has appeared that offers 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.
Thoughts to ponder-
Self-control is the last of the
fruit of the Spirit, possibly the most challenging for many of us. This is the
power switch for harvesting all the others.
But let’s face it, we want what we want when we want it and exactly how
we want it. That is the mindset of our society.
In stark contrast is the definition of self-control: the ability to
control oneself, in particular one’s emotions and desires or the expression of
them in one’s behavior, especially in difficult circumstances.
I think the greatest example of
self-control by far was Jesus’ commitment to die on the cross. He had the ability to make His pain stop, to
make those who persecuted and tortured Him cease, to call ten thousand angels
to His rescue. He didn’t do any of those things though because He knew that the
pay off of His restraint was well worth it. There was a plan and a goal to be
achieved, the reconciliation of mankind into relationship with God, and there
was no other way to bring it to pass.
And so should it be with us, we
should dig deep to find the fortitude to remain committed to growing in Christ,
to become conformed to His likeness. It is not always going to be pretty or
easy. We will certainly face challenges in cultivating the fruit of the Spirit in
our lives. Trust that He has a plan and purpose and that the practice of godly
restraint in our lives will develop character in our lives. We must choose to
look beyond our immediate circumstances and endure whatever God allows us to go
through. It is our choice to make but God himself empowers us to do so.
Challenge/Action Step-
Name one area of your life that
self-discipline comes easy and one area of your life that self-control is a
struggle. What are the differences between the two? What is one thing you can do today to have
greater discipline in your life?
Prayer for today-
Lord, thank you that you see us,
and our struggles to be self-controlled and disciplined. Thank you for your forgiveness as we lay our
failures at Your feet in repentance and begin again. I pray that you would help us to drawn near
to you so that we can truly live a Spirit led life. ~ AMEN
Thanks for
joining me today as we continue this
journey to
understand and further develop the
fruit of the
Spirit in our lives. Please take a minute to leave a
comment here or
join Cherry Fargo of Being ReMade on
Facebook
for further discussion on Living
The Fruitful Life.
