The Fruit Of The Spirit- Self-Control
“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT)
The last quality in this list of characteristics of the presence of the Holy Spirit is self-control.
Self-control is the ability to restrain our actions under stress or provocation.
It can cover a whole range of areas from sexual sin to rage to addictions.
The man or woman of God is not to be easily derailed from responding to other people, to temptation and to life circumstances. That is not to say that we have to control our emotions and never show feelings. Emotions are good things, but our reactions to them are often not good.
Self-control is the ability to say “No” when our body or heart says “Yes’. It is the ability to take a pause to think things through, to pray, to ask “What would Jesus do in this situation?”
It was self-control that enabled Joseph to resist Potiphar’s wife (Genesis 39).
It was self-control that enabled Jesus to say “No” to satan in the wilderness.
It was self-control that enabled Stephen to pray forgiveness for his persecutors (Acts 7).
It is self-control that enables an alcoholic to say “No” to a beer with a mate, but yes to cola.
It is self-control that enables someone to say “No” to chocolate.
It is self-control that enables us to resist the urge to retaliate when someone insults or assaults us.
Self-control can be nurtured by spiritual discipline such as fasting, but like the other fruit of the Holy Spirit, it grows over time as we seek to live in fellowship with God, and let Him direct our paths. Unlike the other fruit, it is experienced in a moment of testing rather than over an extended time.