Self Control

But I say, walk in the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the Flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things that you want to do....  Galatians 5:16-17

Self-control. Why do we struggle here so much? Why is it so hard to say no to our flesh and passions? This is without a doubt something that every one of us struggles with on some level and I definitely do in certain areas of my life. Whether it is gossiping, overeating, lack of exercise, over spending, lust, attention, running, body image, or any other craving we feel the need to feed, we all have something that we run towards to find satisfaction outside of God, even if that is not our intention, seems like sometimes these things just happen so naturally that we don't recognize it as lack of self-control.

Wrestling with self-control can feel like struggling with a selfish motive and overcoming it in an attempt to make our lives better or more productive. However, as we see in the passage above, self-control is a fruit born of the Spirit of God dwelling inside us. It’s not to be viewed as a discipline to muster up so that we can be better Christians. It is a fruit of God that comes through dependence on him and satisfaction in him. Growing in self-control is an opportunity to trust God and to surrender all of our faculties to Him again. It’s a privilege to cast our weaknesses on the Lord and watch him move, answer, and redeem even the innermost parts of our lives.

Many try, as I have, to ‘develop’ self-control, and that is possible, but that is not the kind of self-control I am striving to obtain. My goal is not to personally develop self-control, but rather to allow the Spirit to develop inside of me this particular fruit. I find it interesting that in order to allow this to happen I have to release control of self to have this happen, but I would much rather have the Spirit working in me to develop this fruit then try to do it on my own!

Several of you have chosen to read this series as well and I want you to know that I will praying for you along with continued prayers for myself that the Spirit will lead us in this desire to be more like Christ and less like us. Each week I will read one series and just study, meditate and pray regarding that one fruit, unless I feel led to linger longer. 

May the Spirit be with you and grow stronger and stronger in each of us as we allow His fruit to develop and flourish in our lives.

P.S. Just in case you are wondering about yesterdays blog, I am okay, and I will trust that things will workout one way or another :)