NorthStar Community Daily Devotional

Day 261 – Self-control is a misnomer

Having a Heart in a Sometimes Heartless World

Scripture focus: "Mum's the word," I said, and kept quiet. But the longer I kept silent the worse it got—my insides got hotter and hotter. My thoughts boiled over; I spilled my guts. Psalm 39:2-3 The Message

I relate to the psalmist – I tell myself to behave, oftentimes in areas where I sincerely desire to change – but my insides have other plans! The longer I manage to hold it together on the outside, the bigger the tempest inside! (For more information on this, check out the website www.northstarcommunity.com for a teaching on the cycle of shame.) The apostle Paul learned this same lesson and reports on his experiences in chapter seven of the book of Romans, “For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up….I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope.”

Paul goes on to provide an answer to this dilemma, and you can check that out in the last paragraph of chapter seven. But for today’s devotional, I am focusing on the folly of relying on self-control as a life plan. When we try to scrunch up our faces and will ourselves to better behaving – we’re in for a fall.

The fruit of the Spirit – including self-control, comes to us when we live life God’s way. We can’t muster up enough energy to survive on self-control. But we can acknowledge our powerlessness, and turn our lives over to the care and control of God. He provides what we need, including self-control.

I don’t know why I keep wrestling control away from God in a vain attempt to get my own way. I am comforted to know I am not alone in this struggle. But I’d be a big dummy to pretend it’s not a battle! I’ve thought the battle lines fell in the midst of my need to develop more self-control. Evidently the real issue lies in whether or not I’m ready to live life God’s way.


Recommended reading: Isaiah 28 and 29 in the morning; Isaiah 30 and Galatians 4 in the evening

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