It is widely known that the Bible encourages the Christian to cultivate a healthy relationship with God. In following Christ well and being a productive Christian, we are going to encounter situations and opportunities to shape us either to become what the Bible calls a person filled with the fruits of the Spirit, or one who bears bad fruit. A third, fourth, and fifth group of persons which scripture mentions in Mark 4:1-20, are additional groups. The third group of people is one in which the seed is sown beside the path. They hear the word, Satan comes immediately and takes away what was sown. The fourth is a group in which the seed is planted in rocky soil and the seed sprouts but they have no root because there are rocks and the soil is shallow, so they can’t endure affliction or persecution and they wither; the fourth group are like seed sown among thorns, and are those who hear the word but the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches enter in and choke out the word and it becomes unfruitful. In this article I will be discussing groups one and two. For groups three to five, I will be saving the discussion for a later time.
In particular, Christian fruit is categorized in Galatians 5:22-23. It says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Of these nine virtues, self-control is the last one mentioned, and in today’s culture it seems to widely be seen in diminishing quantities possibly due to several reasons. Some reasons most likely could be things such as the internet where everything is at your fingertips, with easy access for the consumer to obtain a wide variety of common vices and distractions, and the instant access we have to literally thousands of categories of purchasable things that were much harder to come by a mere 100 years ago. Because of instant gratification that is used as a replacement for God by the wayward, the wayward become moved off a course to exercise patience. The distractions come pouring in either because at worst I seek them out, or at best my defenses are low and I find it hard to fight an enemy that seems so compatible and likeable and so unassuming. I find myself believing the lie that what comes easy must have my best interest in mind, and should be what I should pursue all the while. Yet I find myself having failed again to pursue the development of self-control. I think I am growing stronger but I am paradoxically growing weaker.
These things give rise to the exercise of low tolerance, dwarfed patience, piercing impulsivity and the me first push for success. We end up with little room for the appetite for and practice of self-control. Sound familiar? The cultural scarcity of self-control has been amplified by the cultural advances in every avenue of science and industry which makes available more vices and distractions, as well as what seem to be practical and useful inventions. In spite of this the Christian in the Bible over and over is admonished to challenge him/herself to pursue holiness which includes embracing the fruits of the Spirit, which we without the help of the Spirit, cannot develop in our Christian life.
What are the implications today then on the Christian as the virtue of self-control clashes with our cultural style and approach and encroachment of secular norms? Christians are called to navigate various rocky rapids in our situational rivers in small boats with Jesus. And the widespread phenomenon in the last 50-100 years or so of a depleting of the cultural norm to see the exercise of self-control as a healthy daily expectation of oneself related to habits and business and in our entertainment choices could possibly point to the subjective value of the virtue of patience rising at least among those who seem to be depleted of it. We can assume its development in the lives of Christians who struggle with self-control could be highly desirable to them. It is the simple theory of supply and demand where the supply and demand have an inverse relationship. This states when the supply is high the demand is low and when the supply is low the demand is high..
To explain the cultural challenges we today face a little more deeply for the Christian, with our duties, jobs, chores, and schedules we may seem to have in pursuit, it seems to some as an unreachable goal, or at least impractical, although as well as can seem unrealistic, to crucify sins or the hindrances in our lives to our self control developing. To those who mean well but entertain its scarcity the hinderance of doubting its progressive development can set that the average person might prize simply because the fail to pursue self -control if loose living and it brings a great deal of peace when patience levels are high. parents and teachers and professions in which service work of any kind is involved can benefit God’s people, but self-control has value and virtue in interpersonal and business relationships even for the non-Christian. And under these conditions the Bible explains it is not only possible for the Christian to develop self-control in the midst of our dark generation, but it is also God’s delight to cause this fruit to grow and develop in our lives.
As it says in Psalm 35:27b which reads, “The Lord be exalted, Who delights in the prosperity of His servant.” It is speaking of spiritual prosperity notwithstanding material prosperity. Another virtue of Self-control is that it helps the Christian to follow Christ in living a life God can be pleased with. God is looking for open hearts to plant His word still more in them.
According to cornerstone.edu self-control is “The war between impulsivity and doing what is right or beneficial. It’s the ability to control emotions, impulses or behaviors to achieve a greater goal.”
According to Jerry Bridges, “Self-control is the exercise of inner strength under the direction of sound judgement that enables us to do, think, and say things that are pleasing to God.”
According to whatifearning.com in an article entitled “self-control and peace”, “Self-control is a societal issue (Proverbs 16:32): lack of self-control leads people to not accepting limits on their behavior and harming others through their choices. Patience is one of the keys to self-control and involves actively experiencing the time we are in, not rushing on to the next thing. It is not a passive virtue.”
Self-control is a form of inner strength because Proverbs 25:28 tells us “Like a city that is broken down and without walls is a man whose spirit is without self-restraint.”
2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.”
Two main kinds of self-control are self-restraint and self-discipline. Both are parts of Biblical self- control. Self-restraint has to do with stopping oneself from doing a sin or thinking sinful thoughts, while self-discipline can be more about completing a healthy habit or doing an action or step that Christ has trained us in for following Him in the pathway of righteousness.
Proverbs 29:18 says “Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; But blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction.”
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive aa perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So, I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
Titus 1:8 But hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.
How Does God Prepare His People to Live for Him?
Titus 2:11-14 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
God in His word calls people to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions. What does renounce mean? According to Dictionary Definitions from Oxford Languages, it means to “formally declare one’s abandonment of (a claim, right, or possession). Similar: refuse to abide by. Reject and stop using or consuming. “he renounced drugs and alcohol completely”. In law: “refuse or resign a right or position, especially one as an heir or trustee.” Similar: to refuse to recognize or abide by any longer.” “declare that one will no longer engage in or support.” To renounce something, we declare with our actions we chose to abandon our sin and turn to God, we reject and stop using or consuming; we refuse or resign a right or position; and we declare that we will not longer engage in or support the sin, whether the sin involves action or inaction, such as in a sin of commission or omission.
We must know what sin is, or as Titus puts it, what ungodliness is and worldly passions are in order to renounce them. We must accept God’s definition of ungodliness (i.e. worldly passions or sins) if we are to be accurate in our renouncing for two main reasons: It is God Himself who lives out and knows and explains His qualities of godliness better than anyone, and He does so in the Bible, so God is the only One to accurately define and categorize the traits of ungodliness, or sin, or worldly passions, whatever you would like to call them. God warns us about sin. That is His nature because He loves us. Sin does damage and causes death, both spiritual and physical.
Over the course of about 1500 years, God chose men to write His words down, and those writings later were gathered together into a single book and became the Bible. Therefore, by reading and understanding the Bible we can know God and His traits, and we can identify and renounce things that are contrary to God, which are sin, ungodliness and worldly passions with confidence that we are renouncing real sin, real ungodliness and real worldly passions.
Does the Bible say we receive redemption from lawlessness passively or with action? It is not entirely with passivity, because we are at least thinking about that truth of salvation that it is God’s gift to us when we exercise our faith in the completed work of Christ in his work of redemption. We are moved by God to follow Christ. However, it is not our actions that cause the redemption, but redemption received by faith in Christ that results in acts of goodness coming through our lives that we have a zeal for. The zeal for good works that He gives us motivate us away from lawlessness or sin, giving us power and inner strength to renounce our sin, and point us toward godliness and holiness.
The self-control spoken of in Titus 2:11-14, which again says, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”, has self-control pictured as a spiritual meat, giving us spiritual strength in our Christian lives which God has combined with many other virtues like contentment, and moderation, wisdom, and gentleness, sweetness, consideration toward others, keeping in step with the Spirit, and with love, to name a few.
Let’s give a few examples of self-control to round out the picture of it in our minds.
Self-control is pictured with contentment that Moses was directed to show when he was told by God to not smite the rock but speak to it. He didn’t speak to it alone but also smote it and erred in this way and missed entering the promised land.
Self-control is pictured with moderation that Joseph showed to his brothers when they were brought before him when he planted a metal object in the supplies their horses were carrying that belonged to him, and made it look like they stole it from him to put the fear of repercussions happening to them from him as needy as they were, and he let them think about the strangeness of that mystery to haunt them about their sin of selling them into slavery, but yet He didn’t turn them away from him or kill them but provided food for them and for his father and Benjamin his brother who was left behind.
Self-control is pictured with wisdom in Solomon saving the baby’s life and discerning the liar from the real mother and giving it to her for good, and winning the respect and trust of the mass of people in his kingdom.
Self-control is pictured with gentleness and seen in Jesus many times. One such time is when the woman who was caught in the act of adultery was brought before Jesus who had many accusers. He bent down and wrote in the sand. He stood up and said He who is without sin, cast the first stone. One by one her accusers left, from the oldest first to the youngest. He said to her “woman, where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?” she said “no one Lord” He said “neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.
Self-control is pictured with sweetness in the way Jesus was speaking to the 5,000 men plus women and children who had the benefit of hearing him speak, then seeing him provide bread and fish by multiplying it supernaturally, which was a lot better than a free audience giveaway on Oprah, because they got to see the Son of God in operation Himself, filling a need, giving a good talk which they would chew on and digest, and then a free lunch on the house.
Self-control is pictured with consideration toward others when Paul planed on visiting the Corinthians who accused him of being weighty in his letters but contemptible in person in 2 Corinthians but this is the same Paul who wanted to go visit them to provide them some spiritual gift that they could grow by it earlier in 1 Corinthians. He recognizes he is pictured by some as the refuse of all things, but he is doing his job as an apostle, anyway, because he loves Jesus and loves others more than he loves himself it so seems.
Self-control is seen in keeping in step with the Spirit as people were carred about to do unusual things to fulfill a plan or part of the plan of God for large numbers of people. Phineas who grabbed a sensor and offered an offering for the Israelites and stopped the plague. And it was seen in Paul and Peter’s witness among the mob who was shouting “great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” and who were a threat to becoming violent as they began their shouting match. And they kept their cool and witnessed to them. And there are many other examples of self-control used in keeping in step with the Spirit, not the least of which is Moses speaking to Pharaoh and doing miracles by the power of God which gave him time to repent and then leading God’s people out of Egypt safely to the promised land. And Daniel following the Lord’s lead instead of what his leaders wanted and keeping true to the Lord and being adaptable to God in prayer, even when it wasn’t comfortable and being thrown in the lions den, and Ezekiel having to lay on his side and be ill in prayer for 390 days as a sign to people and also perhaps because of the spiritual intensity of what principalities and powers he was fighting in prayer, strengthened by God to oppose the will of the enemy and be in favor to the will of God.
What better example of love coupled with self-control than when Jesus upon the cross saw them hurling insults at Him and saying “if you are the Son of God call the angels of God to come and take you down off the cross! And He forgave them and said “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” He offered forgiveness to the ones inflicting violent pains upon Him. And another example of self-control coupled with love, which was Noah preparing an ark for his family was moved with Godly fear and humility, and prepared an ark for himself and his family and witnessed to the people of his day that God was going to judge the earth with a flood, even though it got him many many insults and mockery.
Self-control when coupled by the people of God to different virtues was often successful to strengthen them to follow Him and keep them safe from harm, deliver them from dangers and perils, and cause them to bear fruit and aide them in the process of trusting God as He was leading and providing for them. Every Christian needs this virtue in operation, and if it is not there or weakly appearing in our lives, God will make sure we have opportunities for our exercise of it. Self-control is akin to patience because when we think about countering our fleshly indulgences that in spite of our best intentions sometimes flare up we discover the need to crucify them as scripture instructs. Our fleshly indulgencies such as overeating, gambling, swearing, stealing, lust and others, may be found are often engaged in with impulse, and to counter an impulse you must practice self-control, patience and initiative.
The Christian life is a challenging one without argument and involves self-sacrificing of comforts, conveniences, pleasantries, sometimes our plans and even sometimes other advantages for the sake of knowing Christ, and His role among the Triune God’s work upon the earth. The securities we feel like things are always going to be familiar for us in our paths of faith giving us a false notion they will always be available can be sometimes had by Christians. God may take one or more of these comforts by God’s prerogative out of the lives of His people. For instance, Elijah’s brook that dried up, and the manna that God provided to the Israelites one day stopped when God was ready to bring them in to the land He had promised them along their journey homeward. To keep this in mind helps us to be patient and self controlled if those comforts for some reason are taken away or removed by God to give us a chance of growth or pruning God may be doing.
As we see this virtue of self-control in operation through Biblical example, let us make room for it’s use in our hearts, and for it’s virtue coming from God Himself to minister to us, and hold Christ as set apart in our hearts as Lord and sanctified giver of the true grace of self-control, so that it’s operation to reflect the glory of God may be seen as a true witness by those we encounter wherever God may lead us to go. LG
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