Love is SELF-CONTROL

Galatians 5:22-26 (NET)  ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love: joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, being jealous of one another.

2 Timothy 1:7 (NET)  For God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control.

James 1:19-20 (NET)  ¹⁹Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters! Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. ²⁰For human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.

Proverbs 22:24-25 (NET)  ²⁴Do not make friends with an angry person, and do not associate with a wrathful person, ²⁵lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.

Proverbs 29:11 (NET)  A fool lets fly with all his temper, but a wise person keeps it back.

Perhaps nothing so quickly destroys the concept of love than a person who acts rashly, impulsively, or is totally out of control. We are imperfect people, but we are blessed to have the Spirit of a perfect God dwelling with us and in us and through us. In our moments of heated temper or impulsivity, it is God who teaches us self-control. Demonstrating self-control in the midst of adverse situations might be the only billboard of love some folk will ever see. When we practice self-control (e.g., in the grocery check-out line, at the traffic light, in the restaurant, at work, at school, in the neighborhood, etc.), we demonstrate God’s love to others.

Gracious Heavenly Father,

Practicing self-control is often challenging for us living in the midst of a self-centered world. Forgive our failings. Remind us that you have provided us with a Spirit love and self-control. Help us demonstrate your love to others.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

 

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Scriptures quotations marked NET are taken from the New English Translation Bible^® http://netbible.com copyright © 1996, 2019 used with permission from Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.