Fruit of the Spirit: Self-Control

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Galatians 5:22-23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

(ESV)

Looking at the fruits of the Spirit requires looking at the fruit tree upon which the fruits of the Spirit grow.  Since the Holy Spirit dwells within each believer, the fruit tree is every believer (1 Corinthians 6:19).  With this in mind, we can view self-control is the root causing the tree to be fruitful. 

The tsunami of never-ending allegations of sexual harassment and even assault show what occurs when people life lives without self-control.  (1) (2)  A person lacking a solid root of self-control bears fruit, but instead of the fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness, these people bear the fruits of lust, unhappiness, anxiety, threatening behavior, evil, lack of respect, and lewdness.  This leads us to ask, what must we do to insure our lives have a solid root of self-control?

1 Corinthians 6:19 reminds us that as Christians we are now the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  Prior to the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Holy Spirit dwelt in the Holy of Holies of the Temple.  Only the High Priest could enter this part of the Temple and only once a year (Hebrews 9:1-10).  The tearing of the veil after Jesus died on the cross is God telling us that this most Holy Place is now open to all through the shed Blood of Jesus Christ.  However, the Holy Spirit does not just invade a person’s spirit but only does so when invited by that person.  If you are reading this and have not allowed the tearing of the veil of sin between your heart and God, allowing the Spirit of God to enter in, I urge you to do so now by praying with me.

Dear Lord Jesus, I know I have sinned (Romans 3:23) and know that the penalty for my sin is death (Romans 6:23).  I ask you to forgive me of my sin and cleanse me as you promise in your Word (1 John 1:9).  I believe you died, was buried, and resurrected from the dead and now declare you Lord of my life.

While God has now declared us righteous and we are now a Temple of the Holy Spirit, learning self-control is a process requiring the practice of spiritual disciplines.  Through the continual practice of spiritual disciplines, the root of self-control in our lives grows deeper allowing the tree of our lives to bear the fruits of the Spirit.  These spiritual disciplines consist of,

1)      Prayer (3) – On the night before Jesus’ crucifixion Luke 22:47 tells us that Jesus went out to the Mount of Olives to pray.  This passage of scripture also tells us that this was not just something Jesus did because of his eminent death, but something He regularly did.  Luke 9:28-29 records another time when Jesus went up on a mountain to pray with the transfiguration occurring during this time.  Prayer is how we as Christians talk to God.  While our perspective of prayer is often believing we are making petitions to God causing Him to move on our behalf, the real motion of prayer is that God moves us into agreement with his desire for us (Psalm 37:4).  When our lives fall into alignment with God’s desire for us, self-control results.

2)      Fasting (3) – The lack of self-control we are seeing in media and politics today is rooted in the fleshly desires of our hearts.  We need food to sustain our physical bodies but fasting for a period of time is a spiritual discipline where believers skip meals depriving their flesh for a period of time in order to devote more time in fellowship with God in prayer and study of God's Word.  It is a temporary depriving of the flesh to achieve a higher spiritual goal.  Fasting requires self-control as our flesh will cry out for food but the spiritual self-control achieved has the eternal goal of making our fruit tree more fruitful with the fruits of the Spirit. 

3)      Scripture reading (3) – While prayer is our talking with God, The Bible is God speaking to us.  Most of us have not heard an audible voice from God and when I hear of someone claiming to hear one, my red flags go up.  However, just like any other relationship, if we do not take time to listen to God, our relationship with Him will grow cold.  God’s Words in the Bible are a source of knowledge and wisdom coming from our creator God.  These Godly words of wisdom and knowledge teach us to live lives of self-control driving the roots of self-control of our fruit tree deeper making our lives even more fruitful.

4)      Worship (3) – In Jesus’ discourse with the woman of Samaria, Jesus told her that the true worshipers of God worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23).  The truth component of worship is the discipline of Bible study.  The spirit portion is when we engage God with intention and reverence.  We usually accomplish this through the singing of songs.  The type of music played is not what is important, but it is focusing our attention on Jesus.  A person focused on worship of their creator God will live a life of self-control

5)      Service (3) – James 2:14 tells us that faith not accompanied with works is dead.  Some mistakenly interpret this Scripture to mean that it is our works that save us but the proper interpretation is that good works indicate a life of self-controlled devotion to God. 

A fruitful life bearing the fruits of the Spirit requires a deep-rooted life of self-control.  The consistent practice of these five spiritual disciplines in our lives are the path to achievement of self-control in our lives.  A world fed up with its secular and often disgusting fruits needs to see Godly people of self-control bearing the Fruits of the Spirit.  My question to my readers is will you be one of those people? 

1. Easley, Jonathan. Political media engulfed by sexual harassment crisis. thehill.com. [Online] The Hill, November 22, 2017. [Cited: December 3, 2017.] http://thehill.com/homenews/media/361422-harassment-allegations-shake-political-media.

2. Bennett, Jessica. The 'Click' Moment: How the Weinstein Scandal Unleashed a Tsunami. www.nytimes.com. [Online] The New York Times, November 5, 2017. [Cited: December 3, 2017.] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/05/us/sexual-harrasment-weinstein-trump.html.

3. Daniels, Dharius. 5 Spiritual Disciplines that Will Change Your Life. www.crosswalk.com. [Online] Crosswalk.com, January 9, 2015. [Cited: December 3, 2017.] https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/5-spiritual-disciplines-that-will-change-your-life.html.