But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
If there is one thing I feel I do not have much control over
sometimes, it definitely is self-control. This is probably the hardest
aspect of the Fruit of the Spirit to master. As we dive into the last
part of the Fruit of the Spirit, I want to thank you for allowing me to
share this series with you.
When it comes to certain things, I do not have very good
self-control. Yes, I am going to be vulnerable and share some things
with you. When it comes to driving past Dairy Queen, it is hard for me
to have self-control. When I walk into an electronics store, I often
have to control the urge to buy everything I see. When I am doing a
search for something on eBay, I often find things that would be nice to
have, but that I really do not need. (I know quite a few of you could
probably relate to that one!) When I hear a song on the radio that I
like, I often have to fight the temptation to always go home and
purchase it online. When I see computer hardware that is really fast,
it is a huge temptation to upgrade what I have!
Most of these are quite humorous and I am sure many of you could
relate to a few of them. However, there are some situations that
require more self-control and I are a little more serious. When I am
walking through a mall or driving down the road, advertisements seek to
lure my attention to immoral thoughts and ideas. When I am sitting at
home in front of the TV, while flipping through the channels or just
watching commercials, I am faced with images of scandalous shows that
could lure me as well. These are times when I really need to practice
self-control because I want to be pure in my mind and heart. Not just
because it hurts my relationship with God, but I want to be pure in my
relationship to my wife as well.
What are some things you find hard to practice self-control around?
Each of us has different things that lure us and pull us away from being
strong in our walk with Christ. Satan knows exactly what buttons to
push to get our attention. We cannot use the old phrase "The Devil Made
Me Do It". That phrase just does not work! We need to be responsible
for our actions and practice some self-control so that we do not hurt
ourselves, our relationship with God and our relationship with others.
I hope and pray that each of us will make a strong effort to seek
God's strength and guidance to keep self-control in our lives. It is
crucial and nothing to mess around with.