Temptation: Self-Control and Emotions – Keep in Step with the Spirit
Can you former procrastinators name the fruit of the Spirit? Bet you can. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23) We like that list. We want to have those virtues.
Notice there’s one thing on that list we rarely talk about: self-control.
Are you quick to say, “I don’t have any self-control”? or “I don’t have much”? Do you envy people who have more?
Some of us may have a tendency toward self-control that others of us don’t. However, it still comes down to this: Those who have self-control have been using what they have. That’s how they got more. All of us can do that.
Temptation is where our need for self-control is most obvious.
As I’ve pondered this, I’ve thought about Stephen Guise’s book Mini-Habits. When Guise writes about the importance of will power over motivation, I now realize he’s talking about self-control. Check it out and see; I think that will hold up. (Will Power, the Good Guy)
The point is that use builds self-control muscle. We’re not body building on our own, we abide in Christ. His grace flows in and through us. We have the power of the Holy Spirit in us to help us exercise self-control. Our Father God wants to see us mature in this area. Jesus is our advocate.
If your self-control is weak, take heart! Again, we build self-control by using it. We have hundreds of opportunities a day to train that muscle. Just seize the next opportunity. Make your bed. Floss. Arrive 10 min early. Smile. Every time is strengthening.
The big hindrance to self-control is our emotions. Yet God created us both rational and emotional. Feelings are important and they deserve attention. There’s a time to focus on them. However, when they entice us toward something wrong, they need to be denied.
Feelings are fickle. They vary with the weather, hormones, the tune on the radio. Allowing them to be in charge dwindles our self-control down to wimpy.
Emotions prefer immediate gratification. We can be motoring along on our diligent way when – Zoom! – feelings see something more appealing off to the side and there they go – veering us off the road.
Feelings also regret. Foolish choices recognized later cause pain.
God has provided for these factors. He designed our brains (where feelings are as well as in the “heart”) so that the “manager” part of our brain has been given power and authority to override the emotional impulse to take the bait from temptation. He has equipped us to exercise self-control.
Recognize His grace at work in you already in this area. You speak calmly when you want to scream, you refrain from sending a harsh email, you prepare meals when you’re so done with cooking. Thank you, Lord!
And consider this – self-control is an integral part of the development of every other fruit of the Spirit.
When is it hardest for you to exercise self-control?
I see God’s timing in this post. I help teach an eSl class, and we have been using the fruit of the spirit for our weekly devotionals. last friday was about self-control. It’s hard! But the holy spirit helps us.
I have self-control in some areas, but not in others. I can obey speed limits, but have a hard time putting down a book in order to make supper. My self-control is weak when I am tired.
A good verse for self-control is proverbs 25:28. “A man who cannot control his own spirit is like a city whose walls are broken down.” Without our walls, all sorts of bad things can enter our life.
Thanks for your blogs!
Oh, Mildred! You described my own difficulties (although I may have more problem with speed limits than you do…) Being tired does make it harder.
And Proverbs 25:28 – Oh, YES!! That’s a major one. You hit the nail on the head! That verse was first brought to my attention by a high school teacher. You’ll be seeing it here again. Thank you very much!