Day 2 - Issue 42
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Proverbs 25:28
'A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls.'
It’s always tragic to see someone who is drunk. They stagger along the road with no clear sense of direction, their speech is slurred and you sense that they might fall over and hurt themselves at any moment. But there are many other less obvious examples of a loss of self-control. Some people lack self-control in their spending or eating and the results can be disastrous. The writer of Proverbs compares the person without self- control with a city with broken-down walls; that is to say a city that is
open to attack at any moment. It is completely vulnerable and the citizens are right to live in fear. Who would want to live in a city like that for a single day?
The New Testament has much to say about self-control, and identifies it as one of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:2-23). These fruits – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self- control – naturally grow when the Holy Spirit is in charge of our lives. They are the characteristics of a life that is lived to the full. None of the fruit can develop where there is an absence of self-control. Each of the gifts is intimately related to the others.
The simple fact is that self-control can only develop when God is allowed to be in control of our lives. He is the one who enables us to find the wisdom and strength to take control and to live in line with his will. As we grow in our faith, increasing self-control enables us to be ever more effective and fruitful for God. This is something which we all need to seek, and not least because the alternative is so utterly depressing. To live like a city with broken-down walls is to live a life of complete vulnerability, where you cannot relax for a moment because every day you are living under threat. No one would choose that.
Question: In what ways have you learnt the importance of self-control?
Prayer: Lord God, I thank you that your Holy Spirit is at work in my life helping me to become increasingly self-controlled. Amen
Released on 2 Jul 2022
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