A word fitly spoken is like APPLES OF GOLD in a setting of silver – Proverbs 25v11
Over the past weeks we have seen how our natural character flaws as detailed in Galatians 5 v19-21: hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy are in constant conflict with the fruits of the Holy Spirit as listed in verse 22: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Christians can only win this war if we are prepared to submit to the Holy Spirit as He seeks to make us more Christ-like. Today we look at the war in our souls between envy and self-control. Envy leads to discontentment which affects our relationship with our fellow men and women and worse still with the Lord. It is a cancer which grows and grows if not cut out and is the root cause of many anti-social behaviours. So why do we persist in allowing envy to consume us and rob us of peace, joy and love? Because we hate the fruit of the Spirit called self-control because we have this perception that cultivating self-control means we become a severe and cold person without emotion and feeling- nothing can be further from the truth!
Jesus was the perfect example of somebody who was self-controlled, yet He wept, had compassion for those who were suffering and even loved those who hated Him. So, what is self-control? It means choosing to control our thoughts, words and actions so we love, honour and glorify God and love our neighbour as ourselves. In other words, thinking less of self and more of others. Self-control is a gift from God to keep us from harming our bodies, minds and souls and keeps us safe from envy and its negative consequences.
So fellow Christian we should be thankful to the Lord for the Holy Spirit who wants to produce more and more of the fruit of self-control in our lives. Are we willing to let Him do so?
Amen
Graeme Greenwood