September Devotional: Fruit of the Spirit- Self Control
SELF-CONTROL
Written by: Jonathan Soden
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23 NIV
As we finish out our monthly series of the fruits of the Spirit, the final topic we will focus on is self-control. If we all practiced genuine self-control, we would be far better off. The world would have far fewer wars, and there would be less family arguments and even health issues. However, we are not the first ones to have major shortcomings of self-control. In fact, the very first sin was a side effect of self-control hitting the wayside. Adam and Eve knew their instruction clear as day—“you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die” Genesis 2:17. They knew not to eat the fruit, but chose to anyway. Failure of self-control was a result of not trusting that God’s vision was greater than theirs. Thus, sin entered humanity and sinful nature has been a part of you since the day you were born. David writes in Psalms 51:5 “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” I suspect that self-control is so difficult for us to this day because it was such a large component of the first sin. The instructions to not eat the fruit were plain. They were so simple yet so hard. You may think you would not have eaten the fruit, yet many lose the battle with self-control constantly in simple circumstances. Maybe it was losing your temper in an argument, or maybe it was simply eating the bowl of ice cream you promised yourself you would not eat. We know exactly what we should do, but oftentimes, the more basic the circumstance, the harder it is to maintain self-control. Paul puts it perfectly in Romans 7:15, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”
It's often said that if you are trying to lose weight, don’t put cookies on the counter. To take it a step further, you also need a new outlet for previous bad eating habits. You will constantly be thinking about junk food until you can become full from new sources of healthy food. Potato chips are replaced with fruits and vegetables, and, eventually, you stop craving the junk. Furthermore, you may even feel sick and less energized when you indulge in a cheat meal, and start to crave your new found nutritional values.
Self-control is not a muscle you train. It may work for a day, a week, or even a month, but eventually sheer willpower will not be enough. Why? Sin is spiritual; it is not something we can fight with physical methods. Self-discipline can sharpen your habits, but only the Holy Spirit will change your desires. Similarly to a diet, sin needs to be replaced by a new source to truly overcome it. That source is Jesus. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” 2 Corinthians 5:17. Jesus is not just interested in removing sin from our lives—He wants to replace it with something even better.
Let’s wrap up our monthly series by looking at the fruits of the Spirit in totality.
As Christians, we believe that we receive salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus dying on the cross—not by any good works we have done, but that those good works will be a result of our joy, belief, and gratitude of Jesus’ sacrifice (our heart posture). Similarly, we do not gain access to the Spirit by first displaying the fruits mentioned in Galatians. On the contrary, we receive the fruits of the Spirit by first becoming one with God—by placing your trust and belief in Him. “Whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit” 1 Corinthians 6:17.
Thus, the fruits of the Spirit are a result of our connection to God, not the other way around.
“Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself but must remain in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:4-5
The fruit of the Spirit is supernatural—not something that man can attain on their own. Jesus says to remain in Him, and if we do so, the fruits will be produced in our lives—not by our own accord. In the same way a vine gives nutrients and life to a branch to produce fruit, Jesus, the Source, gives the spirit, strength, and power to us as branches to have the fruit produced in our lives. Jesus says to remain (or abide) in Him. What does that mean? We often overcomplicate it. It is relational consistency with God. In our “spiritual” lives, it is pretty straightforward—spend time with the Lord through the Word and prayer. In totality, our time in prayer and scripture is a small percentage of our day. So what about when we are not reading the Bible or meditating in prayer? Paul says, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it for the glory of God” 1 Corinthians 10:31. Even in the ordinary, we as Christians must take on the heart posture of Jesus. Ask yourself: Am I glorifying and honoring God? Is this representing Jesus’ character? Is this uplifting and serving others? We don’t know what the end result will be, but if you can put these questions into action, the Holy Spirit will surely produce fruit in your life.
The fruit of the Spirit is not something we manufacture; it is something God produces in us as we remain connected to Him. When we stay close to Christ through Scripture, prayer, and the posture of honoring Him in the ordinary, the Spirit reshapes our desires and strengthens our steps. As we abide, He brings forth fruit that we could never create on our own.