9 Fruits of the Holy Spirit (10) Fruit of Self-Control
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February 13, 2022 |
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 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Gal. 5:22-23
Those who don’t have self-control make their lives difficult and cause hardships for themselves. For the believers who have accepted Jesus Christ, self-control is a must to cast away most basic sins.
Self-control is one of the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit. It is not just power to press down sin desires; it controls all other fruits of the Spirit to be perfect. So, the fruits of Spirit begin with love and end with self-control. Let us take a closer look at the fruit of self-control.
1. Makes All Other Fruits Perfect
Self-control is not as outstanding as other fruits of the Spirit in terms of its characteristics but in no way it is less important. It controls all other fruits to be stable and firm. All fruits of the Spirit become perfect only with self-control and for this reason it is mentioned last.
If you have joy, you can’t just show it any time but only when it’s appropriate. Self-control is necessary in faithfulness as well. If you have multiple duties, you need to prioritize your duties so that you are where you need to be. Even if the meeting is great, you need to finish it when it is supposed to be finished. Self-control is necessary to be faithful in all God’s household.
The same goes for all other fruits such as love, peace, kindness, and goodness. When you show the acts that come from the fruit of the Spirit, you must not cross any line by following the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The fruit of self-control prompts you when you need to decide which things to do first and those that can be done later. It can let you know when to step in and when to back off.
Having borne the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit completely means that you are acting in perfection in every matter, following the desires of the Spirit. And to do this, you must have the fruit of self-control. That is why it is said all 9 fruits of the Spirit are completed by the last fruit, self-control.
2. Evidence of the Fruit of Self-Control Borne
1) You Always Follow the Order
Those who have borne the fruit of self-control know their position in the order, so they know when they should take action and when they shouldn’t, and what they should say and what they shouldn't. Thus they don’t cause any disputes.
They don’t do anything that is out of line. Suppose the leader of a mission group gave instructions to the manager. Just because this manager thinks he has a better way, he just does things his way. Even if the manager had done it with godly faithfulness, he violated the order due to lack of self-control.
Even in the church, what the leader wants to do might be different from what you want to do. Even if your idea seems very good and it will help the group very much, you can’t produce good results if you break peace by going against the directions of superiors. This is to give grounds for Satan to accuse you, and God’s work will be blocked.
Therefore, unless it is something totally against the truth, you should follow the order thinking of the whole church even if your leader's opinions are different from yours.
2) You Put the Truth into Action Appropriately
It’s good to cry out in prayer, but you can’t just do that anywhere and any time you want. You might mask God’s glory by doing so. You should also have discernment on which things to say when you counsel believers.
If you say something that the believers can’t understand within their measure of faith, they might lose fullness of Spirit or even pass judgment. In some cases, some people hold others who are busy and give their lengthy testimonies. Even though the testimonies are full of grace, it’d be difficult for the hearers to be touched in such a situation. They might pretend to listen just to be courteous, but their mind is not at ease, and they can’t really focus on the testimony.
In a group or mission group meeting with the Senior Pastor, if you give a lengthy personal testimony, it means you are using up the time for the whole group all by yourself. Thus, we need to consider various situations and exercise self-control.
3) You Are not Impatient or Impulsive
Those who don’t have self-control are usually impatient and reckless. As they rush things, they don’t have proper judgments and miss out some important things, too. They might cause uncomfortable relationships by passing judgments on people.
When they need to listen to others and then answer, those who are impatient make many mistakes. Therefore, they shouldn’t just intervene while others are still talking but listen to the end to prevent any misunderstanding. Furthermore, in so doing they can understand the intention of others as well.
Jesus’ disciple Peter was impatient and bragging before he received the Holy Spirit. Before taking the cross, Jesus said to Peter that he’d deny Jesus. Peter said he’d never do so.
If Peter had self-control, he’d have tried to see what he really had to say rather than just saying things right off the top of his head. If he knew there was nothing that Jesus would ever say that was meaningless he would have tried to keep what the Lord had said in his mind and prepared himself so that such a thing wouldn’t happen. Such discernment comes from the fruit of self-control.
In John chapter 7, Jesus didn’t leave for Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths (Feast of Tabernacles). So, His brothers urged Him to go to Jerusalem to show miracles and gain their support. They had their own ideas and became impatient with Jesus, who was waiting for the right moment. If Jesus hadn’t had self-control, he’d have gone up to Jerusalem immediately.
However, Jesus wasn’t affected by His brothers’ urging but just waited for the right time of God. After they left for Jerusalem, He went quietly without being seen by others. Jesus knew exactly when to stay and when to leave. He acted according to God’s will.
3. To Bear the Fruit of Self-Control
In many cases people have ulterior motives that are different from their words. Some draw attention to other people’s faults in order to hide their own. They make a request saying it is for others, while it is actually to get what they want.
They ask a question saying they want to find out God’s will, but actually they are just seeking the answer they want. If we quietly continue talking with these people, they will soon reveal their intentions.
Those who have self-control are not easily agitated by what others say. They can quietly listen to others and discern the truth by the works of the Holy Spirit.
If you give an answer with self-control and discernment, you wouldn’t make mistakes caused by faulty judgment. To that same extent, your word will carry weight and it will have authority. Now, what do we have to do to bear the fruit of self-control?
First, we should cultivate unchanging heart.
If we have a truthful heart that is free of falsehood and cunningness, we can do the things that we decide to do. Of course, we can’t cultivate such a heart overnight. We have to train ourselves to keep our heart from little things so that we can eventually cultivate an unchanging heart.
Next, we should try to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit before doing things at our own discretion.
We can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit to the extent that we take in and make bread of God’s word. When we’re wrongfully accused, we can hear, “Forgive, love.” However, if we have a lot of untruths in our heart, we will hear Satan’s voice first saying, “They will look down on you if you just leave them be. You should teach them a strong lesson first.” Even if you hear Holy Spirit’s voice, if the evil thoughts are dominant, you’d miss the faint voice of the Holy Spirit.
We can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit when we cast away untruths from our heart and make bread of God’s word. When we obey the faint voices of the Spirit, we'll be able to hear them more clearly. We should try to follow the voice rather than doing the things that seem urgent to us.
As we keep on listening to and obeying the desires of the Holy Spirit, we’ll be able to discern between minute details and act in harmony in all matters.
Dear brothers and sisters, it is the fruit of self-control that controls love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness. All these are made perfect by self-control.
I hope you will bear the fruits of the Spirit completely so that you will receive everything you ask and you’ll prosper in all things. In so doing, may you give out light and power in this dark world and reveal the glory of God, I pray this in the name of the Lord!
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