"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." Galatians 5:22-23
Several weeks ago I attended a womens conference and listened to Priscilla Shirer speak. She briefly mentioned her battles with food and referenced the verse above from Galatians as one that helped her break the bondage to food. For her, it was all about self control. Food itself is not bad, liking food is not bad; the problem comes when we have no self control and we overindulge.
God has been working on my heart over the past few weeks. I have read those verses over and over and over again and I am also being "smacked in the face" with my sheer lack of self control. Every decision I make throughout the day speaks of what I value and how much I trust God to fulfill His promises. When I make impulsive, over-indulgent, unwise, foolish, or plain old bad decisions, it reflects on me and the God I serve. I am also realizing that God has big plans for my life, my husband, our family and our little man. He could use all of us much more fully if I would display more self control. Practical examples? How I speak to people and the words I choose, how I choose to spend time, how many things I commit to doing, how I choose to spend resources, and many more things each day give me the opportunity to exhibit Biblical self control in my life.
I often try to convince myself that I have an area of sin under control - that I have overcome it. Self control was one of those area for a while. Until I realized that I had begun to control only the worst - or most obvious - things that caused me to exhibit a lack of self control. God continues to peel back layers and expose more opportunities for me to think differently and act differently. I am so thankful He's not done with me yet!
"...he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
Philippians 1:6b
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