Self-Control – Part One

        “The fruit of the Spirit is . . . self-control” Galatians 5: 23.

        Self-control is the ability to regulate one’s thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in the face of temptations and impulses. 

        Parents often say to a misbehaving child, “Control yourself” while they fail to exercise self-control themselves.

        Self-control is negative and positive. It not only involves stopping a negative, but also starting a positive activity.

        Dieting is “Exhibit A.” Living in the well-fed part of the world which boasts some of the world’s best home cooks self-control is essential for good health. It requires not only stopping over indulging, but starting good dietary habits. It is often as difficult to do one as the other.

        The controlling factor is “self.” External factors are influential, but only the self can control one’s actions. Research shows that self-control is like a muscle: it can be strengthened over time with practice. Strategies such as setting clear goals, avoiding temptations, and using positive self-talk can help improve it.

        Often the impression is given that some people find it easy and others difficult to exercise it. False, everybody is challenged to employ it.

        Perhaps the term self-control is misleading and that causes difficulty. True biblical self-control is not merely self-employed will, it is the employment of spirit-control known as the “fruit of the spirit.” It is the engagement of the Holy Spirit along with self-will. The Spirit is the supercharger that empowers the self to act.

        Now back to the parent/child analogy. When the parent says “Control yourself” they are making it known their will is different than that of the child. At that moment the child makes a decision as to which will is to be obeyed. The likelihood of it being the parent’s will is largely dependent on the parent/child relationship. The child who loves the parent and knows of the parents love is much more likely to do the parent’s will and exercise self-control.

        Likewise, the person who knows the Father’s will and His love is all the more likely to exercise self-control and allow the fruit of the Spirit to control. They prefer to please the Lord rather than themselves.

        Now consider a bad habit about which you know the will of the Father. Do you love the Lord enough to want to please Him? If so, commit the matter to Him in love and ask for His empowering grace.

        Conversely, if there is a practice you want to start, commit it to the Father. Acknowledge your desire to please Him is stronger than your selfish self-will.

        We are to be “as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy” (I Peter 1:14 – 16).

Integrity Counts

        Wealth is either good or not depending on how it is earned and used. A collective misuse pattern is found in these men.

        1923 was a very prosperous year in America. That year a group of the most successful financiers and industrial giants gathered at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago.  They were —

        the president of the world’s largest steel company,

        the president of the largest utility company,

        the president of the New York Stock Exchange,

        a member of the President’s Cabinet,

        the biggest trader on Wall Street,

        and the head of the world’s most powerful monopoly.

        At the zenith of their prestigious careers combined they had more money than the U.S. Treasury. Their wealth and fame faded.

        Charles Schwab, president of the steel company, lived his last years on borrowed money and died penniless.

        Arthur Cutten, the wheat speculator, also died insolvent.

        The president of the stock exchange served time in Sing-Sing Penitentiary.

        The member of the President’s Cabinet was pardoned from prison so he could die at home.

        Three of the others committed suicide.

        Money didn’t bring them happiness and contentment because their lives were not given to the Lord and therefore neither was their treasure.

        Various ones of the following texts explain their financial and personal demise, but they illustrate the expediency of virtue in all of life.

        “Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows over time” (Proverbs 13:11). Get-rich-quick schemes are to be avoided.

        “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight” (Proverbs 11:1 ESV). Goods and services should be honestly rendered.

        “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them” (Proverbs 11:3 ESV). One’s true nature is revealed action.

        “Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out” (Proverbs 10:9 ESV). Be sure your nature will reveal itself.

        Pause and reveal yourself to the Lord as though He doesn’t know it. Enlist His help in developing character pleasing to Him. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3: 5, 6).

Play Ball

        There was an old baseball coach at Pepperdine University  named John Scolinos who when he addressed an audience of baseball coaches had a standard size home plate hung around his neck. He began by asking in succession if there were any Little League, Babe Ruth, high school, college, Minor League, and finally Major League coaches present. Pausing between each, he asked what was the size of your home plate. Reservedly, thinking it was a trick question, each slowly answered, “17 inches.”

        “SEV-EN-TEEN INCHES,” he confirmed.

        Then he questioned, “What do they do with a Big League pitcher who can’t throw the ball over seventeen inches?”

        Someone shouted, “They send him to Pocatello.”

        Coach Scolinos remarked, “They don’t say, ‘That is OK. If you can’t hit a seventeen inch target we will make it eighteen or nineteen inches. We’ll make it twenty inches so you will have a better chance of hitting it. If you can’t hit that, let us know so we can make it wider still, say twenty-five inches.’”

        Then he asked, “What do we do if the best player consistently shows up late for practice? Or, when the rules forbid facial hair and he shows up unshaven? Do we change the rules for him?”

        Next he drove home his point noting that is the problem in our country. “We have changed the rules in government, in marriage, in church, and in education.” 

        Regarding each of these disciplines, he made his point as he did in this way regarding government: “Our so called representatives make rules for us that don’t apply to themselves. They take bribes from lobbyists and foreign countries. They no longer serve us. And we allow them to widen the home plate! We see our country falling into a dark abyss and we just watch.”

        (I want to interject that though this is true in general, there are some very good leaders who serve us well.)

        In a discipline dear to me there have been dramatic changes of standards. There is a new theological school of thought going around in some churches known as Liberation Theology. Proponents say the church has alienated society by holding standards no longer acceptable by the world. The church must change to be more acceptable by the world. It must become more compatible with the world.

        You fill in the blanks noting where standards have been changed by the church.

        Historically the objective has been to love the world, but not the things of the world and endeavor to lead the world to upgrade its standards. That is now being reversed in the name of popularity.

        Scolinos made his final point. “If we fail to hold ourselves to a higher standard, a standard of what we know to be right; if we fail to hold our spouses and our children to the same standard, if we are unwilling and unable to provide a consequence when they do not meet the standard; and if our schools & churches and our government fail to hold themselves accountable to those they serve, there is but one thing to look forward to…”.

        At that point he turns over the home plate he has around his neck to show the reverse side. Showing it to be black he warns, “We have dark days ahead!” Then this appeal to keep  “Your own children, your churches, your government, and most of all, keep yourself at seventeen inches.” I commend the Bible as the standard.

Consider the Lily

         “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;  and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 6: 28 – 30).

        In teaching His followers not to worry Jesus used several objective lessons, but none more effectively than when He said, “Consider the lilies of the field…”. 

        I have walked through the lovely fields of flowers He used to illustrate His point.

        The lilies are not what we would call a lily. They are what we consider poppies, scarlet or purple. They grow in such numbers as to blanket the field. 

        He was using the poppies to teach about basics such as food, drink, and clothing. It must be acknowledged these are basics, but must be considered in the right way.

        Jesus uses the lilies of the field as an illustration. The lilies, or wildflowers, don’t engage in labor or toil, yet they are beautifully adorned. Jesus contrasts their effortless beauty with the splendor of Solomon, King of Israel. Even Solomon, with all his resources, was not dressed as magnificently as these simple little flowers.

        Let every blossom be a reminder of God’s provision for you. Anxiety and fear can be overshadowed by His numerous reminders that He cares for you. By internalizing these truths, we can experience the peace that comes from knowing that our Heavenly Father is both willing and able to meet our needs.

        Fear was fostered in Eden. After disobediently eating the fruit Adam said, “we were afraid,” It has been said that the most repeated phrase in Scripture is, “Do not be afraid.” Take another long look at that field of poppies and be reminded there is no need to fear, every reason to express trust and confidence. 

        Today’s materialistic mind-set values possessions and outward appearances just as they. The lesson is dateless. Consider the contrast. If God is going to care for the elemental little poppy surely He will provide for the optimum of His creation, human beings. “Don’t worry” is the mandate shouted by every little poppy. A field of them is a chorus singing of His reliability.

        “Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”

How to Be Victorious in Spiritual Warfare – Part Four

Ephesians 6: 10 – 17

        “The helmet of salvation”(Vs. 17) is a must in spiritual warfare.

        Certain characteristics of salvation are depicted by the Roman helmet. I saw one of these exquisitely crafted helmets in a Roman museum. Some characteristics associated with salvation:

        It was lined with leather. The first reference to animal skins being used as clothing related to Adam and Eve immediately  after their sin. The lamb was slain, pictorial of the ultimate slaying of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

        The helmet was made of brass, a strong metal affording protection. Jesus secures and protects our salvation.

        On top of the helmet was a small crown emblematic of the authority of Rome. The Christian is crowned with the crown of righteousness provided by Jesus.

        The helmet had a chin strap to hold it secure. Jesus is our security.

        “The sword of the Spirit” is  indispensable  (Vs. 17). When Rome set out on world conquests they used long awkward swords and lost most battles. They then changed to a short two-edged sword called a “machaira.” By engaging in close-up hand to hand combat they conquered vast regions.

        “The sword of the spirit” is in the genitive case meaning “the sword from the Spirit.”  “The Word of God” is the sword.

        “Prayer” is not to be minimized (VS. 18).

        No believer is ever successful in spiritual warfare who does not have a vibrant prayer life. It is our means of reporting to our Commander and receiving orders from Him.

        In Papua New Guinea they have a uniformed patrol. They wear badges stating: “Prayer and Peace.”  Whenever a community is having trouble, instead of sending in the police, they send in the “Prayer and Peace Patrol” to pray for the troubled area. It’s working.

        Let’s not fail to utilize the resource of prayer.

        For years we lived on the West Bank of the Mississippi River at the site of the battle of New Orleans.

        The battle of New Orleans pitted the rag tag forces of Andrew Jackson coupled with the pirates of Jean Lafitte against the mighty British army that had defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. Both forces fought valiantly. However, what happened on the Chalmette Battlefield that day would not have changed the course of the war. The war ended before the battle was fought. Word of the British surrender had not reached the battlefield. Victory was assured by the American forces because they had won the war. They fought valiantly because to them their battle was of importance. 

        Jesus has won the victory for us. We can engage in our mopping up action one battle at the time with confidence.  Don’t worry about it.

        He, the ultimate overcomer, is the overseer of the overcomers.

        Faith in Jesus and compliance with His encouragement can prevent worry and empower any person of faith to find peace that passes understanding.