Day 29

Self-Control

Controlling Yourself

What is impossible with man is possible with God.

Luke 18:27

Self-control without God is completely impossible. It is ultimately impossible for humans to maintain self-control, and that’s why we make so many resolutions to stop this or start that, and we fail time and time again. When what you resolve is to control yourself rather than to turn yourself over to the Holy Spirit, then your resolve will soon falter. So how do you do it? How do you surrender your life to the life of the Holy Spirit? Well, the first step is admitting that you have a problem. If you don’t see any need in your life, if there is no sin that controls you, no area in your life where you can’t control yourself, then why would you need him? This is why we can thank God for our weakness, because it is in our weakness that we are able to come to him and turn ourselves over to him. As Jesus said, the healthy person doesn’t need a doctor (see Luke 5:31), and so Jesus came to seek and save the lost, not the ones who have it all covered themselves. You must admit that you have a problem and that you need God in order to overcome it. This is the act of confession—agreeing with God that you are a sinner in need of salvation.

Then you have to admit not only that you have a problem but also that you can’t do anything about it. You are powerless to control yourself without him. You make commitments, but you keep messing up and giving in to sin. So you have to realize and then admit that you can’t, you just can’t—but that he can. After all, “what is impossible with man is possible with God” (Luke 18:27). Thank God for that! Then as you admit you can’t do it, you surrender it to him and say, “You can.” If you don’t think God can manage your life—if you don’t think he has the power to give you abundant fruit, faith, hope, and all that you need to live life here on earth—then you cannot go any further in faith. You must believe that he can. And a part of believing that he can is adoring the fact that he can. In other words, when you see his majesty and power, you can’t help but talk about it, worship it, proclaim it. So a part of self-control is adoration, reminding yourself that he is able. If you cannot adore God, then you must find out more about him, because once you know who he is, you can’t help but adore him, and as you do, you stop worshiping yourself because you see that you are not him. This is the beautiful part of surrender: it allows you to fully adore him and to give up trying to prove yourself or hold yourself in a higher regard than you should.

In order to turn your life over to God, you must give up trying to be your own little god, and that means you have to reject the laws you have created for yourself in order to try to make yourself good enough. Beyond that, you have to take a look at how much of God’s law you have dismissed as unimportant or unnecessary for your salvation. It is true that obedience doesn’t save you—only his death and resurrection can do that—but when you accept disobedience in your life for the “little” sins, it only feeds your lack of self-control. When you decide that it’s okay to break the law as long as you don’t get caught, what you are really doing is training yourself in self-rule rather than self-control. And when you say that your lack of self-control is an acceptable sin, then you lose control not just in one area of your life but in all as you turn yourself away from the Holy Spirit and toward self. Your lack of self-control should bother you, not confirm you are only human. If you want to gain more self-control, consider controlling your passions even in areas that aren’t necessarily sinful by turning your whole life over to him. Allow his thoughts to be the fuel for your action.

• Admit It

Looking at the areas where you lack self-control allows you to spot the places where you have surrendered your life to stuff rather than to God. Look at your lack of self-control, your obsessions, and your passions to see if any of them point to you living your life for yourself rather than for Christ. Ask God what he would have you do in these areas in order to die to self and to live more fully for him.

How much time do you spend thinking about God, praying, studying, and concentrating on his Word? Are there things in your life you can give up in order to find more time for thoughts about God? If you can give up thirty minutes of time spent on things that aren’t God so that you can spend thirty minutes with God, then add that thirty minutes to your morning and devote your life to him before you are tempted to devote it to anything else tomorrow and the next day.

• Pray It

God has provided spiritual protection for your mind and heart and emotions. It’s called the armor of God, and while it might seem like just a nice idea, it is more than that. It is actual protection for your mind and for the benefit of the fruit of self-control in your life. If you don’t know how to put it on, then just pray these words to God, based on Ephesians 6:13–18, and put the armor on your life each day:

God, today I take up the whole armor of God, that I may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. I will stand, therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for my feet having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances I will take up the shield of faith, with which I can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one, and the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit. To that end I will keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. Amen.