If you are fiollowing the spirit and have the fruit then I think this would just follow naturally
Well, yes and no. By definition, since self-control
is a fruit of the Spirit, if you have the fruit of the Spirit, you have self-control. However, because I am a Calvinist and not a hyper-Calvinist, I believe that, since we are saved by grace through faith
from sin and dead works
to faith and good works, and that we must strive with our entire being after holiness (in other words, while justification is 100% God, sanctification is 100% God and 100% man), we must, entirely in the strength of the Holy Spirit, strive to produce the fruit of the Spirit in us. We must pursue the fruit of the Spirit, not to earn merit with God, which is impossible, but to express our thanks to Him for the salvation He has already provided, as well as to give greater glory to God.
So, the question is still here: how, in the Spirit, do we obtain this particular fruit of the Spirit?
Psalms 91 is correct that we can get self-control from the Holy Spirit. We can pray for more when it is needed yet sometimes our sinful selves take over anyway
I remember reading once where Luther spoke of our personalities and characteristics still being there even in our new creation by the Spirit so it's possible self-control can also stem from the type of person who isn't as impulsive as others.
Right. Surely certain persons have an easier time developing certain fruits, while other people have an easier time with other fruits.
Ethical courage? Do you mean taking a proper stand against things that are unethical?
By "ethical courage" I mean the courage to do the ethical (right) thing. It's not enough to know what is the right thing to do. The demons know that! You must actually
do the right thing for the right reasons, and you must appear to be doing the right thing. As one of my supervisors put it, there are three things: intention, execution, and perception. Manage all three.
So do those who stand outside abortion clinics with signs who are demonstrating their stand against abortion as being unethical...are they showing self control in a high emotion situation? I'm not sure.
I think it depends. Some are, some maybe not. I personally think that crisis pregnancy centers do more good to combat the unspeakable evil of abortion than almost anything else.
Luther supposedly said, "You can't keep a bird from flying over your head but you can keep it from nesting in your hair." MY understanding of the context of that is that we cannot eliminate our sinful nature, our "orientation" if you will. BUT, we do have at least some control (and certainly we have empowering for such) in terms of our ACTIONS. Indeed, theology speaks of "civil righteousness" in which OUTWARD OBSERVABLE "sins" may be entirely absent - yet such remains a sinner.
Right, because most sins are internal. As a man thinks, so he is.
I think of it this way: Let's say I have a cold (I don't..... I VERY rarely do.... but go with me here). Now, let's say I take a handful of pills and as a result, I have no symptoms: no coughing, no sneezing, no runny nose, no symptoms, nothing you could observe that would reveal my cold. Now, do I still have a cold? Yup. I just don't have any symptoms AT THIS MOMENT (for whatever reason). We are by nature sinful and unclean... sin being a spiritual/moral disease. But via "self control" and via the "power of the Holy Spirit" I CAN largely control the symptoms....... at least the outward, observable indications of such. But this is no reason to boast, no reason for think such needs no (or less) mercy.... it just means I have few symptoms just now (ask my wife.... she'll tell you there are more symptoms that most think, lol).
My half cent.
Pax Christi
- Josiah
No argument here. I asked one person, who had an interesting take on this whole question. Because a man is as he thinks, and because the imagination drives so much of a man's thinking, he said that controlling your imagination is a great way to work on self-control. When you find yourself imagining wrong things, you wrench yourself out of it. You also pay attention to your patterns and habits, so that if certain circumstances tend to induce wrong imaginations, then you avoid those circumstances.
I wonder if the Puritans have something to say on the matter. Maybe Richard Baxter's
Directory?
