How to Practice the Fruits of the Spirit
Hi guys! Thanks for joining us in our look at the Fruits of the Spirit as described in Galatians 5:
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23a)
Today, we're finishing off our look at each of these fruits, concluding with the last one: self-control.
When you're sticking to a budget, you need a lot of self-control. You have big goals in mind: you want to pay off your student loan debt, or you want to save up the new Xbox. Accordingly, you hold back on your spending on other things in order to meet that goal. Even though it would be nice to go out to dinner for the third time this week with your friends, you say no. Even though it's easier to grab a coffee from that awesome coffee shop on your way to work every morning, you choose to make it at home more cheaply.
The role of self-control in sticking to a budget is easy to see, but we also need self-control in almost every aspect of our lives. You control your food cravings in order to reach your weight loss goals. You control your schedule in order to make sure you spend time tending to your responsibilities. You control your temper, and don't go flying off the handle every time someone does something that upsets you. You control your actions, and avoid doing those things which you know to be wrong, while simultaneously doing what is right, even if what is right seems to you a burden or waste of time.
Or do you? Honestly, how has your exercise of self-control been when it comes to choosing what is noble and good, and avoiding what is selfish and evil? I'm forced to admit that for me, self-control is the hardest of these Spirit Fruits to give attention to. It takes tremendous amounts of self-control to align your desires with what is truly good, and avoid those temptations that are truly bad. It is a struggle, and we all must confess that this struggle has resulted in many losses. Paul describes the intensity of this struggle in another place:
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do… For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. (Romans 7:15, 19)
Doesn't that sound all too familiar, not being able to do the good you know you should? Thankfully, there is hope. The Bible says about Jesus:
[Jesus], being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:6-8)
Jesus practiced the ultimate self-control. He came to earth as fully God in human flesh, and subjected himself to torture and death to pay for your sins. Every lapse of your self-control – without exception! – is completely forgiven. Jesus budgeted his time perfectly, spending each moment fulfilling all of God's expectations for your life and behavior. You are forgiven and free in Christ! So now, you see that temptation coming, or that opportunity to serve someone else – how do you muster up the self-control to act the way you should? God doesn't leave you alone to impress him, he helps you.
it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (Philippians 2:13)
God himself is at work in you, through faith in Christ, to strengthen you on your walk with Jesus. May God continue to bless you and be with you as you grow in your living of these Spirit Fruits for him!
Watch the Video:
How to Practice the Fruits of the Spirit
Source: https://www.trinityelpaso.org/blog/spirit-fruits-self-control