October 15
Jeremiah 22-23
Psalm 115:9-18
Proverbs 25:4-5
Titus 2
Self-Control
“It teaches us to say ‘no’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do good.” Titus 2:12-14 NIV
Paul is encouraging Titus in this chapter to teach the older men to be temperate and self-controlled. He says to teach the older women to control their mouths and not to drink too much. He tells him to urge the younger women to be self-controlled and pure, and the young men to be self-controlled. That pretty much covers everyone: older men, older women, younger women, and younger men. So, everyone needs to be self-controlled. None of us get to escape this instruction. I guess you could argue that he isn’t talking to children, but we need to teach children when they are younger to use self-control, or when they get older, they won’t know how. This is such a broad topic that covers so many areas. I think we all can think of some area where we really need to improve our self-control. Maybe you struggle with eating too much or eating foods that are bad for you and you need to use self-control to improve your diet. Maybe you struggle with self-control in your finances, and you need to establish and stick to a budget to get that under control. You may drink too much alcohol or take drugs that you shouldn’t. Perhaps you struggle with self-control in some sexual area like pornography or extra-marital sex. Maybe your mouth gets you in trouble too much and you need to use self-control to stop cussing, gossiping, or lying. Do you spend too much time on social media or playing video games? It could be that you don’t need to stop doing something, but instead you need to use self-control to start doing something. You know you need to exercise to take care of the body God has given you. You have been meaning to get up earlier to spend time with God every day but instead of using self-control, you keep hitting the snooze button over and over. You want to tithe, but you never seem to have enough money to do it (budgeting might help with this).
Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit. That means that it isn’t something we can just will ourselves to do. We need the help of the Holy Spirit who is living in us. He wants to help us live self-controlled lives and He is ready and willing to help us. We just have to cooperate with Him. He will give us the strength we need if we ask Him. He will even give us the desire to do it. But He won’t make us do it. The more time we spend with Him and the more we involve Him in the process, no matter what area it is in, the more likely we are to be successful. Pray and ask Him to show you any areas that you need to work on. Develop a game plan and get started. It won’t happen overnight but stick to it. Set measurable goals so you can see your progress and seek Him so that we can be called “a people that are His very own, eager to do good.”
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