The Blessings of Self-Control! :)

Really want to thank God again. :) Earlier this week, I was praying, asking God to help me grow in maturity, and was seeking Him for a better understanding of what it really means to be a man.

Then I felt this prompting in my heart to read 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus. While reading, these passages caught my eyes:

1 Timothy 3:1-8
1Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer,[a] he desires a noble task. 2Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.

I saw that when Paul was exhorting Timothy to be godly, one of the things that would help him become godlier is self-control and self-discipline. Likewise, he commanded Titus to teach both the young and old men to be self-controlled.

Feel very thankful and happy, because now I see... self-control is not a chore, but leads to a lot of blessings! Plus, now I am renewed in the knowledge and understanding of this fruit of the Spirit...

This is what I learnt from the commentary on 1 Timothy:

Self-controlled, next on the list, is a quality Paul refers to frequently in the Pastorals as a basic element of the observable Christian life (2:9, 15; 2 Tim 1:7; Tit 2:2, 4, 5, 6). As a fundamental aspect of the new existence in Christ (Tit 2:12), it is the ability to take charge of the mind, and Christians have this possibility opened to them. This allows control over impulses (to overindulge the physical appetites, to think wrong thoughts about others and ourselves) which without control would drive us to excessive behavior.

Respectable refers to observable behavior that corresponds to inner self-control. It is behavior of all kinds (2:9) marked by self-discipline, order and balance. Paul's use of this traditional quality, especially in connection with self-control, sets before us the possibility and challenge of developing a life in which inner motivation and outer action achieve a harmonious balance. The ancients viewed inner control as the strength of life and outer balance as the beauty of life.

But Paul was not simply lauding traditional values that, some two thousand years later, are of no use to us. On the one hand, vigilance, self-control, respectability, and the balance of inner and outer life that Paul envisions are realities available to us in the Spirit. They are also necessities. Without vigilance (spiritual awareness and discernment) we will not exercise self-control. Without self-control we will indulge ourselves freely according to the advice of the world around us instead of setting the limits that produce godly balance.

And later on, this paragraph caught my attention:

As the list continues to probe the background of the candidate for leadership, it prohibits four characteristics of behavior. Tendencies toward drunkenness and violence (Tit 1:7) are clearly reasons for rejection. The church cannot afford to be led by those who allow themselves to be controlled by intoxicating substances (which enslave the user and inhibit decisive thinking) or emotions. But evidence of these traits in any believer calls for immediate action. They are signs of a loss of control. Maturity and strength are to exhibit themselves instead in gentleness, as they did in Christ (2 Cor 10:1).

As someone who tends to be very easily influenced and even controlled by emotions, this advice is very relevant to me. In addition, after observing myself and certain people, I realised that whether one is a Christian or not, one basic sign of maturity is how self-controlled one is. And this applies to all areas of our lives - be it physical, mental, emotional, social or spiritual - just as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness do.

Self-control makes it possible for us to be effective and disciplined. One scene that illustrates the importance of self-control very well is "The Last Samurai". In that movie, a group of barely-trained conscripts armed with rifles are sent to fight a group of sword-wielding samurai.

But as the battle begins, the riflemen are obviously fearful. And as the fierce battle-hardened samurai draw nearer and nearer, the shivering conscripts give in to their fear. They prematurely start firing and miss the samurai. And since there's no time to reload, the samurai efficiently massacre the now-helpless riflemen who flee the battlefield in terror.

So was thinking, very often, even if we have much more effective weapons in spiritual warfare than the enemy (e.g. prayer, the Word of God), very often Satan attacks our minds very well such that instead of stopping to pray or exercise the authority of the Word, all too often we flee or break down in terror, forgetting that our enemy is an already-defeated foe.

So with that renewed understanding of the blessing that self-control is, yesterday, I decided to watch the thoughts that flow through my mind. Won't go into details here, but wow, realised that one of the first steps is to be vigilant of every thought that is going into my mind. Without it, it is extremely difficult to exercise self-control. And this discipline is a biblical principle too: "And we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

And wonderfully, I find that, with God's help as I pray and continue reading the Word, I have more confidence and joy in many things. Thank God! :D

Wow. It's really exciting to have the Word renew my mind! :)