“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness… For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness (virtue), and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, SELF-CONTROL…” 2 Peter 1:3, 5

You have probably watched enough movies or plays to recall situations where one of the characters has lost it emotionally and is unable to function.  Usually, one of the main characters in the story reaches over and grabs the out of control person by the collar and shouts at them, “Get a grip on yourself!”  The faith additive Peter lists as self-control expresses that same idea.  It is about “getting a grip on yourself.”

The word we translate self-control describes the person who does not allow passion or emotion to control their actions.  It does not mean passion and emotion have no place. It simply means emotions do not determine by themselves our actions, but are perfectly controlled by reason that comes from wisdom and knowledge – the ability to get a grip. It applies, not only to major circumstances in our life like finances or that awful announcement by a doctor who says, “it’s cancer”, but also to the everyday things like driving in traffic (who me?) or dealing with the emotional drain of daily relationships.

When our faith is graced by goodness and knowledge, self-control is more likely to come into play because of our knowledge of what is true and that God is in control.  We are still passionate, but not irrational. That is faith doing its work.  Without self-control, there is no peace.  That’s when the Holy Spirit takes us by the collar and firmly speaks to us, “Get a grip!”

FANNING THE FLAME

We are not perfect; sometime we lack self-control.  At those moments, admitting we were wrong can go a long way.  However, we can help teach our grandchildren self-control only we demonstrate a regular pattern of living with self-control ourselves.  Perhaps it’s time for faith-check to see how well our faith is maturing in this area.

GRANDPAUSE: “Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.” – Benjamin Franklin