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Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Spiritual Ingredient - Self Control

“add to your knowledge self-control”.
From the passage 2 Peter 1:5-11.

As we learn more about God and His Word, we will begin to see that some things in our lives are not right. We will learn to recognize the sin in our lives. Have you ever noticed that it is much easier to recognize the sin in someone else’s life than it is our own? We sometimes think to ourselves, "If you sin like I do, then you’re okay and I’m okay, BUT if you sin in a way that I don’t then "WATCH OUT" because you're wrong!"
So, let's think of self control as a spiritual "ingredient" we should have in our life. Self control is quite possibly the hardest ingredient for us to have because it can involve so many aspects of our life.

"Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control." Proverbs 25:28

Self control involves the following: what we think, what we say, how we act, what we wear, what we eat, what we drink, how we drive, how we work, how we discipline and much, much more. In fact, pretty much EVERYTHING in our life!

Self control is a hard ingredient to find at times. But, God's Word tells us that this ingredient is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). As Christians, God's Spirit dwells within us (Acts 2:38; 1 Corinthians 6:19) and will help us develop self control, as well as the other fruits we need. I'll be honest and tell you the hardest things for me to control.
#1 - My mouth
#2 - My eating (which also, ironically, involves my mouth)
#3 - My attitude (which may involve my mouth)
#4 - Drinking (no alcohol - haven't ever had that stuff!) No, my "addiction" is Diet Cherry Coke with the REAL Cherry Syrup from Sonic. (also involves my mouth...I'm seeing a pattern here.).

Besides praying for self control, I have found that if I will meditate on this scripture, it helps me a lot: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," Philippians 4:13.

Ask yourself these questions:
1. Do you find it easy to overlook the sins in others as long as they sin in the same way you do?
2. How much self-control do you have? Remember that these spiritual ingredient should be increasing in measure. (2 Peter 5:8)
3. In what areas do you need self control in your life?
4. What helps you to have self control in your life?

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