Self-Control

Photo by Joel Peel on Unsplash

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and SELF-CONTROL." 

This fruit of the spirit journey has taken some time. What I originally planned to be a winter project exploring different words has become nearly a year of delving into some big qualities and emotions, and there have been quite a few personal revelations along the way too.

This humble list in Galatians 5 has challenged me. Despite hearing many people talk about the significance of the fruit of the Spirit, I’ve never taken the time to really ask why these qualities are the ones that Paul wrote on his list.

The simplest, but possibly most profound lesson I’ve learnt, is that you don’t get these Fruit of the Spirit overnight. Each one requires a lot of prayer, a lot of persistence, and a lot of trust. 

Which brings me to self-control, which sits starkly from the others on this list. Ask someone if they want to be more loving and they’ll probably say yes. More patient? They’ll definitely say yes. But more self-controlled? That’s a deeper, and more personal question.

Self-control as a Fruit of the Spirit isn’t the one that’s preached about in Church. It’s easier to think about being more kind or joyful. But just like the others it’s a vital part of this list – these fruit are all gifted to us from God.

And, crucially, the Holy Spirit is at work to grow these fruit in us. We don’t have to muster them up ourselves. Which is especially true - and easily forgotten - with self-control as the word ‘self’ is literally at the beginning.

So often, it’s assumed that Christianity is all about us (our selves) trying to be better people; trying not to do anything wrong; attempting to reach a certain level of ‘good’ to be worthy enough of God’s approval. 

But that’s not what Christianity is. It’s rooted and grounded in the opposite; that we are all broken selves, who can’t make ourselves better people on our own. So God makes us more than better - perfection - through Jesus. And the outcome of becoming a Christian is that the Holy Spirit works in us - in our broken selves, to transform who we are.

God, who created us, knows us. And that’s why self-control is such an incredible fruit of the Spirit. It points not just towards ourself, but the possibility of ourself with the Holy Spirit, resisting challenges, temptation, and overcoming them all.

Not because of our individual self-control, but because of the power of the Holy Spirit in us. Not because of us. But because of God.

And ultimately all of these fruit; Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control; demonstrate the character of God.

And In a world that’s broken, hurting, crying out for all of these things, they’re found in the Bible. They’re found in Jesus. And if Christians everywhere took these fruit seriously, the world would be transformed.

The Fruit of self-control is a revolutionary partnership between us and God.

This is the tenth and final blog in a series on the Fruit of the Spirit. Read the whole series by clicking on the label below, "The Gifts".