by Ronnie Reese

Created on: December 12, 2010   Last Updated: December 14, 2010

Self Control for Christians

Who controls who?

To be sure there is self control for Christians. But all too often ‘Self’ is the one that’s doing the controlling. Christians who strive to control self certainly have their hands full.

This has been the folly of many people in history. Politicians, theologians, and humanitarians alike have all surprised us with some of the choices they have made. For the love of money, the love of sex, the love of liquor, the love of appetite, the love of lands, the love of homes, the love of cars, boats, and planes many politicians, theologians, and humanitarians have veered from principle down through history’s pages.

Bible characters controlled by self

Even in the Bible we read of many Bible characters who fell far short of the mark, when it came to self control. Eve took the fruit. Moses smacked the rock several times. Gehazi took the gifts Elisha had refused. Achan took the Babylonian garment. David took a man’s wife and then mastered the plot to take the man’s life. All of these were people who knew better. But knowing and doing are not always the same.

Bible characters who controlled self

The Word of God is also replete with many people who kept self in subjection. When Potiphar’s wife tempted Joseph this young man chose to honor his God and his master as well. Moses chose to leave the riches of the kingdom of Egypt and be united with a slave tribe. Daniel and his three friends chose to curb their appetite at the Babylonian banquets. Levi Matthew chose to leave his tax collecting booth and all the coins on the table to follow an itinerant teacher named Jesus.

The difference

So what was it that makes the difference? Why do some of us choose to control self and others allow self to control them? And why do some of us do pretty good sometimes and then really blow it at other times.
Perhaps the great Christian hunter, Paul, could shed some light on this subject. As you remember, Paul was an extremely zealous man. He hunted down and rounded up Christians with a vengeance. But then a change happened in his life. He became one of the hunted. He became a follower of Christ.

Here's what Paul had to say about self control:

14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I

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