Self Control in All Things
Self control is a transformational mindset, not an impulse choice.
The Lord had convicted me the other day that I had been walking in complete indulgence of everything in my life. I was not walking with self control, what so ever. I was doing whatever the heck I wanted to do. For the rest of this story, let’s just focus on my eating habits.
I had in-n-out way too much. When I say way too much, I mean…. WAY TOO MUCH. Multiple times a week, having vanilla latte’s AT LEAST once a day, and snacking whenever I wanted. What I wanted to consume- I consumed. You may think, “hm, yeah Rach, that’s probably not the wisest thing you can do for your body but like TREAT YO’SELF!!”
But the bottom line is that WE DECIDE. It is OUR choice. Nothing is forced down our throats.
Same thing goes with the rest of our life. We choose what we give in to. We choose the decision to walk into temptation or to turn from it.
What decision do we make the most throughout the day? Eating.
We actively choose what to eat throughout the day. We decide what we want to eat anywhere from 2-8 times a day on average. It is our choice to either choose something that is good for our body or bad for our body.
So how do we expect to walk in self control in our spiritual walk, if we make 2-8 decisions a day solely based upon what our flesh desires. Our flesh is trained to make decisions based upon what WE want and WHEN we want it. How is that training us for success in waiting on the Lord? How is that training us to resist temptation the enemy throws at us?
It doesn’t.
When we train ourselves to act upon every fleshly desires / feeling that comes to us, we will give into temptation EVERYTIME. We say that we want to overcome the sin/addiction in our life, right? Well, how are you making practical steps to say no to what your flesh wants? How are you training yourself not to want that harmful thing?
Romans 12:2 says, Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Friends, we must train our brains to desire righteous things. The right thing to do, eat, say, act upon will never come naturally to our selfish flesh, we need to train it. Just like a dog is wired to eat food right when you give it to him and you have to train him to wait on your command. We need to train our brains and rewire them to desire good things.
How this happens you may ask?
Start asking God to align His heart with your heart so you desire what He desires!
Start making conscious efforts towards better decisions.
When you mess up in any temptation of yours, instead of beating yourself up, ask yourself WHY you chose temptation over what is right? Process it with yourself.