Controlled by what?

New Year’s Day, 2016.

I have this bittersweet feeling today, as I wrap up nine months of concentrating on the “Fruit of the Spirit.”  And here we are, the first day of a new year, and the last of the fruit Paul mentions is self-control. (Galatians 5:22). How ironic is that, to be found making new year’s resolutions, only to see them drift away from you like the outgoing tide?  I am so tired of that.

So this year, instead of resolutions, I’m going to concentrate on self-control.  Like any fruit, it ripens with time and the right conditions.  We all know that maturity does not happen overnight so why do we conjure up self-control as if it were a genie in a bottle, waiting to be released on January 1^st, every year?     For sure, it does feel good to set a goal, to be determined, to open a new calendar and hope for change. 

But I know I need more than that.  I know I need the Holy Spirit to bring His fruit to fruition, and I know it will take time.  It will most likely take some heartache and sorrow; those situations that God allows in my life to mould and shape me.  I know myself well enough-there is nothing like soul-searching difficulties to shape my life, but I want them to press me into God, not cause me to lose hope, to lose joy and to lose self-control. 

This last-on-the-list fruit of the Spirit appears to create a contradiction.  Should I be self-controlled or Spirit-controlled?  Both are actually true, but if I allow the Spirit to be in control, then self-control will blossom.   And I can’t help but think that Paul placed this fruit at the end, to wrap up this ‘package deal’ with an encouraging reminder – those who are self-controlled will also exhibit the rest of the fruit he has spoken about, and the more we are self-controlled, the more room the rest of the fruit has to grow.  

Can I really be living out “…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness,” without self-control?  No, I would be much too self-centred; hence I need the Spirit to move me forward into this new year, expecting a fruitful harvest and not wasting time or circumstances by not allowing self-control to mature in me.

 As I consider the following verse in Proverbs, I recognize that self-control is as much about keeping away from certain things,(i.e. sugar, gossip ,etc), as it is about protecting my heart and keeping the gospel fresh in my mind. If I am to bear good fruit, and nurture my soul, I will need self-control; I don't want the tide to sweep away all the hard work of an entire year, let alone an entire lifetime.

A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.

Proverbs 25:28