A Soul Checkup – Self-Control

The fruit of the Spirit is … self-control…. Galatians 5:23

I recently read about an incident that happened in Detroit in the 1930s. Three young men boarded a bus and attempted to pick a fight with a black man sitting alone in the back of the bus. They insulted him time and time again. But he said nothing in response. He just sat quietly. When the bus came to the man’s stop, he pulled a business card from his pocket and handed it to one of the young men. The card simply read, “JOE LOUIS – BOXER.”

These three young men had tried to pick a fight with a man who was the Heavyweight Champion of the World for 12 years. He could have easily given these men the fight of their life, and no one would have blamed him. But he didn’t. Instead he exhibited self-control.

I don’t know anything about Louis’ relationship with Christ, but his demonstration of self-control illustrates the final description of the fruit of the Spirit. The word Paul used in Galatians 5 reflects a spirit that is non-reactionary. One’s fleshly impulses have been bridled.

We see a good example of self-control implied in Proverbs 25:28: “Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls.”

In its comments on this verse, the Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible states: The picture is that of a city whose walls have been so nearly destroyed as to be without defense against an enemy; so is the man who has no restraint over his spirit, the source of man’s passionate energies. He has no defense against anger, lust, and the other unbridled emotions that destroy the personality.

As with each aspect of the fruit of the Spirit, true self-control is a result of the Spirit’s work within the believer. It is God’s empowering to protect us from being overrun by the deeds of the flesh. But such self-control doesn’t happen automatically. It has to be developed, and development comes from practice

Think about some aspect of your fallen nature that tends to get the best of you. Maybe it’s a moral weakness or perhaps you’re prone to outbursts of anger. It could be a lot of things. Whatever it is, the goal is to bring that under control. So the next time you sense your fallen self is moving toward an action that is contrary to the Spirit, stop and walk away from it. Give yourself some space to calm the inner storm. Then once under control, you can re-engage with whatever hooked you but in a self-controlled response.

The goal is to get to the place where this becomes the natural way you respond to the everyday stresses of life. You will know that you are developing a robust self-control when you naturally react to difficult situations with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness instead of some aspect of your fallen nature.

So let us give ourselves to God’s inner work so that the fruit of the Spirit including self-control may be developed within us.