Control

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

CONTROL

Prov 25:28

28 Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.

NIV

The only reason a city has a wall around it is to protect it from attacks from an enemy. But it is also needed to make sure the wall is not only a watchful device but that it is maintained in good order, without any place it can be breached. If the wall becomes in disrepair and begins to crumble and falls apart there is no defense for the city. So it is with a person’s self-control. If there is a hole in it, a breach in our defense, we leave ourselves open to all sorts of trouble. Granted one of the fruit of the Spirit in self-control and thus the Spirit should produce that quality, that trait within us. But then we also know it is possible to quench the Spirit. In order for the Spirit to produce any of the fruit in our life, we need to yield, allowing him to do the work. Thus we can keep the Spirit at bay, so to speak while we lose a portion of our self-control. This lack of self-control might manifest itself in various ways. One form relates to the lust of the flesh.  God gives us insight into this through the Apostle Paul.

1 Cor 7:1-7

7:1 Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry.   2 But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. 5 Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control . 6 I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7 I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.

NIV

This has to do specifically with immoral lust for another other than a spouse. Affairs with someone or something is a lack of self-control. In some sense it matters not about the physical marriage bed, but rather also speaks to our being faithful to God. All believers are the bride of Christ and thus we are his spouse, and we need to keep ourselves faithful from any form of adultery. Any sin against God is a form of lack of self-control due to some form of lust, which does not always mean sensual or immoral intimacy. Lust for material things, lust for money, lust for security, lust for control. If we rely on ourselves we have a breach in our wall of defense. There is a great warning given to us through Timothy.

2 Tim 3:1-5

3:1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control , brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

NIV

We have to be vigilant in keeping the wall free from defects, free from areas that might crumble. This can only be done through staying in step with the Spirit, not quenching him, but allowing him to walk that wall, to guard our hearts, keeping the enemy from breaching it. This is the prayer Jesus taught us to pray when he included the part of “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”. We know God cannot be tempted nor does he tempt anyone. He makes that clear through James. We are only tempted when we are drawn away by our own evil desires. There is the breach in the wall. There is the lack of self-control, being drawn away by our own, not his or not by him, but by our own evil desires. How do we keep from being drawn away? It almost seems impossible to escape that desire at times. We see something we want, and we want it now. We are consistently bombarded with advertisements for so many different things. There are the material things of course, but also we are told to secure our future with gold, silver or some form of security other than God. Self-reliance rears its ugly head. We are also shown all the beautiful people of the world. The idea what beauty is has been distorted far beyond the beauty God gives to us. We have become too susceptible to what the world sees as beauty. The beauty industry makes billions of dollars a year because we all want to be beautiful, vanity is a form of lack of self-control. It is not just woman who have been deceived by this lust for beauty, but some men have fallen prey to its call. What about self-control with our words, our tongue, our attitudes in regards to anger, bitterness, unforgiveness? What about our self-control at the dinner table? There are so many forms of lack of self-control, it might take a book to enumerate them all.  So let us examine our wall of defense against any weakness and let us give the Spirit full reign to guard the city of our heart and mind. Let us keep guard against self-reliance of any form.