Self-Control

Galatians 5:16-20 (TNIV)

 16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever  you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 

 

Living Water

One of the images that Pastor Jon explores this week is the image of "living water."  As you reflect on the passage see what the image suggests to you.

John 7:37-39

37 On the last and greatest day of the Festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them." 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

 

Additional Texts for Reflection:

John 4:13-15

3 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

    15 The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."

John 6:63

63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.

Some might say that this is not a fair subject to bring up on Thanksgiving weekend.  Between an abundance of good food, and the almost pathological behavior that occurs in shopping malls on the Friday after Thanksgiving, it seems like "self-control" sounds somewhat of a dissonant chord.  But then again, maybe that is all the more reason to talk about it!

Never eat more than you can lift

Miss Piggy

I generally avoid temptation

unless I can't resist it

Mae West

Opportunity may knock only once,

but temptation leans on the doorbell

Unknown

And sometimes that is exactly where we find ourselves, caught somewhere in the confusion between our sense of what we want (or think we need at the moment) and what really we need (and on our deepest levels, want).  And so we look for ways to be intentional in the midst of it all in a life that is seeking to be responsive to the Spirit. 

Exploring what that might look like is what Pastor Jon is up to in his sermon this week.  If you'd like to listen to it again, or perhaps hear it for the first time, you can click here to go to our sermon library.

The willingness to be intentional about how we live or what we do is encouraged by the scriptures, not as a means to gain God's favor or secure a place in God's Kingdom, but as a loving response to the work of God's Spirit within us.  Being intentional does not necessarily have to imply a struggle against what we really want, it can also be a joy and a delight as we pursue it.  It may involve energy, effort, hard work (perhaps even pushing through areas of internal resistance at times), but the place that it is springing out of makes all the difference!

The truth is, that we all live in response to something.  Jesus invites us to consider what it is that we are living in response to, and suggests we might want to try the alternative He offers.  Think about that in light of these two texts:

"Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand."

- Matthew 5:17

"Come, follow me."

- Matthew 4:19

19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

    22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 2526 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Against such things there is no law. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Something to Ponder . . .

   How might the fruit of the Spirit show up as "self-control" in the life of the believer?