Self-Control
What best defines self-control for you? Is it seeing a table full of wonderful desserts and simply turning away since you do not need it? Or is it seeing a table full of wonderful desserts and boldly striding up to it to partake in moderate amounts? (Replace the desserts with homestyle cooking and you have my dilemma.)
Peter said that self-control must be added to our lives that we may be fruitful in life and have clear spiritual vision (II Peter 1:5-9). Paul said that self-control is fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:23). In conjunction with righteousness and judgment, self-control was a part of the sermon Paul preached to Felix (Acts 24:25). It must, therefore, be important!
There are two ways to be a controlled person. A person can be controlled by external devices. Handcuffs, a rope, or a straight jacket will contribute in one way or another to this control. This type of control is forced. When the bonds are broken, the person returns to where he was prior to being bound.
One can be controlled by internal devices. This type of control is voluntary and genuine. It is a control that arises from maturity and effort. It is the only type of control that will last. When we control ourselves, there is no need for anyone else to do it.
There are 3 levels of self-control that we all must face. Level 1 is material control. This control happens when my will and my practice are aligned. We all have material urges that reach out to us daily. A self-controlled person is able to follow his will not to be pulled away by these urges or to follow through doing what is necessary but not desired.
Level 2 is moral control. This control happens when my will and practice are aligned with my own moral outlook. A common denominator between all people is a moral conscience. Every person has a moral compass that identifies some things as good and other things as bad. That is not to say, however, that all people see things identically with respect to what is good and what is bad.
Level 3 is spiritual control. This control happens when my will and practice are aligned with God’s will. This is the point at which levels 1 and 2 are merged. Spiritual self-control aligns one’s will and practice because it is the right thing to do. Spiritual self-control allows God to define morality.
The struggle for self-control is real. We are all in this struggle. The more spiritually mature we become, the more self-control will find. Interestingly, it is the struggle that brings self-control. Hebrews 5:8 declares of Jesus that He “learned obedience by the things that He suffered”. The human nature that Jesus had while on earth had to be trained through struggle. Obedience was the outcome. Without the struggle, there can be no success.
This is probably what Paul had in mind when he instructed Timothy, “Fight the good fight of faith…” (I Timothy 6:12). Since self-control comes through struggle, keep struggling! Even when you fail, you are not defeated until you stop the struggle.
— Mike Johnson
