In this week’s blog, we’re going to take a little different approach.
You see, on Saturday afternoon we’re going to get the opportunity to get together again, “live and in-person” at our Vista campus for a “Singles’ Gathering” where we’ll get to share some laughs, be encouraged by a message, talk with others about our insights and honor our God through “live” worship.
Our message will finish up our “got fruit” series, culminating this day with a message on the fruit of Self-Control.
For those of you who are new to our community, we’ve spent the last little while – nearly a full year of First Friday and Singles’ Gathering events to be precise – working our way through just two verses in chapter 5 of the book of Galatians.
In what is also known as the Fruit of the Spirit passage, Galatians 5:22-23 ESV reads,
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control; 23against such things there is no law.
With all of those relational attributes; 9 for those of you who’ve counted; and a pandemic thrown in; you can see how we’ve been able to stretch our study out for more than 12 months.
As we previously learned; if LOVE is one of the bookend relational attributes because it has such a profound effect upon all of the others, SELF-CONTROL is the other.
So what specifically is self-control as a Fruit of the Spirit?
Well, self-control is much what it sounds like – the ability to exercise control over the self or, said another way, being able to keep one’s self in check.
You might be thinking, “That sounds like one of those temperament checks – making sure we are good people and act like adults as we interact with society.” And in part, you’d be right.
As Christians, however, self-control goes well beyond our temperament.
It’s about resisting temptation and being obedient to God’s direction in our lives.
It’s that when we fail to resist temptation and are disobedient to God’s commands, we are genuinely saddened, sorry and repentant; asking for and accepting His forgiveness and actively seeking to change and do better going forward.
It is the active and intentional effort we put forth to resist the temptations to go back to the ways of the world around us once we’ve been shown and taught God’s spiritual way of life.
So in this post I’d like to give you a taste of what we’ll talk about Saturday afternoon; to encourage you and share with you a little bit about 5 Ways to cultivate the fruit of Self-Control in our lives:
- It’s not letting our circumstances cause us to lose control.
- Self-control exhibits moderation, temperance, and discipline.
- It’s choosing, even under significant pressure, to chase after the important instead of the urgent.
- Self-controlled people show restraint and are not impulsive.
- Self-Control is learning to respond rather than react.
As mentioned, this is just a taste…I’ll be providing additional thoughts and information during our time together on Saturday. If you’ve not yet registered or have no idea what I’m talking about and would like more information, you can find it via this link. I hope to see you there.
Right here with you,
Terry