Fruits of the Spirit:Self-Control

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Gal. 5: 22-23

Self-Control

The final Fruit of the Spirit is self-control.  Self-control in the original Greek term “egkrateia“, which means mastery, or command over ones behavior, emotions, sinful and destructive desires . Self control allows the believer to focus more on what the Lord wants us to do with our lives and prevent us from making the mistakes that will cause us to ruin our lives.

However self-control is not an individual matter, believe me I know from experience that self-control cannot be achieved by one person alone. No matter how strong we think we are, alone self-control is out of our reach, that things that make us lose control will always have hold over us until we realize that. Asking friends and family to help you with your self-control can be a source of great strength for you. In Galatians chapter 6:1 Paul wrote “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently”. If we know someone who loses control over themselves because of something that you know is destructive you, and all those who care for that person should come and gently bring him or her under control again. There is a reason why the Christian church is called the Body of Christ, it is so that we can build each other up and allow ourselves to mature more in behavior and character.

In life no one can achieve all of the Fruits of the Spirit equally, some might be stronger and weaker than others. Like for myself I have trouble with self-control, yet I am an extremely patient person. Paul himself was known to lose his temper every once in awhile.Everyone has stronger Fruits than other people, but what matters is that we share these gift that God has given us with as many people as we come into contact with.

Next Issue I will be writing a series on the Ten Commandments.

Watch Your Tounge!

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. (NIV) Ephesians 4: 29

Mmmh! Mmmh!

I saw a trailer for a new Eddie Murphy movie yesterday, called A Thousand Words. The film is about this fast-talking literary agent, Jack McCall, who can talk and lie his way out of anything. One day though, he lies to the wrong person, promising to publish the book of a New Age Guru, Dr. Sinja. For lying to him, Dr. Sinja binds McCall’s life force to a tree and every time he speaks a leaf falls off. Now Jack must survive by not talking or else he will cause all of the leaves to fall off, causing him to die.

I can’t tell how many times I wished  that I could keep my big mouth shut, unlike Jack. There are so many times where my careless tongue has hurt the feelings of my friends and family. It has also got me in a lot of trouble with other people who I didn’t know. I’ve learned that what comes out of my mouth can have after affects on myself and those that I come in contact with.

The Seventh-Day Adventist religion is known as a religion of no’s. People get that impression because the first thing they find out is what Adventists cannot do. Situations like these can be avoided if the person representing the Adventist church did not just focus on what Adventist do not allow; instead they should start with our core beliefs and messages.

What comes out of our tongue has a permanent and lasting effect on people. If our tongue is not tamed we can hurt so many people, we can make a better impression of Christ.