You look at society and see that everyone wants to be independent and do whatever they want. You see this in society where husbands do not want wives telling them what to do, and wives feeling the same way about their husbands. Society promotes the idea that you are an individual and you can do whatever you want, whenever you want to do it. You are rare if you exhibit any sense of self-control in your life.
Harry S. Truman studied the lives of great men. He came to this conclusion: “In reading about the lives of great men, I found that the first victory that they won was over themselves…self-discipline with all of them came first.” To do anything important in life, or in regards to spiritual things, requires discipline. If you cannot control yourself, life on earth will be difficult for you, to say the least.
2 Timothy 1:7 speaks loud and clear about this: “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” The discipline the Lord gives is one of “self-control.” That is a God-given attribute given to you. You have it at your disposal. All you have to do is to accept it and put into action in your life. You, also, know that “self-control” is listed among the qualities mentioned with the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. It seems like God is mandating that you have “self-control,” since He spends so much of Scripture emphasizing it.
Yes, “self-control” may be that forgotten character trait in society today. As Harry S. Truman pointed out, “great men” of yesteryear all had that trait. So, to achieve anything significant in your life, the need for “self-control” is needed for you.
“Self-control” is a God-given trait; claim it today. In the future, someone may think of you as a “great man/woman.”
