How are you doing with your New Year's resolutions? Are you trying to succeed with your own self-control, or are you allowing the Holy Spirit's fruit of self-control to pervade in your life?
In Galatians 5:22–23 (NLT) God assures us, “The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” if we “follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives” (Gal. 5:25 NLT). The fruit of the Spirit encompasses the distinctiveness of God. No human plantation can create a vineyard such as His. God is the divine husbandman. He plants the vine and prunes it precisely to produce the fruit He wants. This fruit completes His portrait so the watching world can see a glimpse of Christ through our lives.
In this current series of blog posts we are assessing the fruit God wishes to produce through His Spirit. But in our desire for independence we attempt to counterfeit God’s fruit with our own design. Desiring all He has for us but not willing to give all we are to Him, we endeavor to circumvent His plan by producing our fruit of the flesh. Our miserable efforts culminate in disastrous results: emptiness, futility, turmoil, and frustration to name a few. Obtaining an education as a fruit inspector will prepare us to distinguish between the authentic fruit of the Spirit and the counterfeit fruit of the flesh.
Self-Control > Self-Indulgence > Discouragement
The presence of God’s Holy Spirit in our lives offers us the fruit of self-control. Self-control is the fruit that enables us to deny self. This is not the ability to control ourselves, but it is the freedom from being controlled by the desires of the flesh. Through divine enablement we are empowered to say no to our personal desires. Here, we have been granted the divine ability to fulfill the will of God by saying yes to the desires of the Spirit (Gal. 5:16–17, 24).
Yet self-indulgence, as counterfeiting self-control, emphasizes the putting off of personal restraint and giving in to the desires of fleshly longings. Only when the desire is certainly more painful than it is potentially pleasurable does one say no. The flesh will barely refuse gratification when certain pain is obvious and the destructive consequences are seen as immediate, undeniable, and depriving pleasure. Hence there must be a discernible level of self-indulgence found in self-restraint before the flesh is willing to concede. Otherwise, we opt to give in to whatever is pleasurable and self-fulfilling.
It is accurate to proclaim that the crown and glory of all the fruit of the flesh is self-indulgence. It is the expected reward for having labored in the vineyard of self-centeredness. Happiness is the illusive prize.
Our interest in indulgence is proportionate to our self-centeredness. The more we are concerned with self-promotion and self-preservation, the more we yearn to be indulged. We say, in essence, “Because I want to be promoted, I want you to promote me. Without your efforts on my behalf, I feel I am being deprived of what is necessary to make me happy. I expect you to promote and serve my interest.”
The continuous pursuit of pleasure-producing indulgences culminates in discouragement. The eventual outcome of self-indulgence is discouragement because we want what we want, but our wants are never satisfied. Then we move to a new set of desires, believing these new choices will produce the ultimate fulfillment. This may even be labeled as a midlife crisis. Perhaps you did not have the family you wanted, the body shape and size you desired, the socioeconomic status you preferred, or your ideal job. Maybe you have been striving to make someone else happy, or you want him or her to make you happy. But you never settle in the place of contentment, and so you continue your search, only to end in despair and discouragement.
Discouragement embodies the loss of hope that we can promote and preserve self in a fashion that will produce the greatest fulfillment. Provoked by the inability to effect environmental changes to generate love, significance, and security, we continue with self-indulgence. Discouragement pervades over the fact that we have failed to create a platform powerful enough to make a difference in our lives that would sedate our emotional concerns or stimulate our ambitious yearnings.
Consider this example of a husband with three children who is unfaithful to his wife. He does not want to leave his wife, but he wants to have his girlfriend. He lies, deceives, and connives to keep one a secret and the other satisfied. It all comes to be exposed: “You may be sure that your sin will find you out” (Num. 32:23 NLT). The children come to hate their father. The father wants the kids to love him, he wants to continue with his wife, and he wants to keep his girlfriend. Instead, he loses everything he had and everything he hoped to gain.
“The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength” (Deut. 6:4–5 NLT).
Ultimately there is nothing that can impart contentment apart from Christ. We flit from bloom to bloom looking for the nectar of life, but only God is able to provide true satisfaction. The spiritual fruit of self-control is experienced through dependence on the Spirit of God so we do not have to depend on ourselves. His divine enablement leads to personal empowerment. If you find yourself experiencing the symptom of discouragement, consider what means of self-indulgence you are employing to counterfeit God’s fruit of self-control.
As we submit to the Holy Spirit, we will see evidence of the Spirit’s fruit of self-control in our lives when we renounce self-indulgence that gives way to discouragement.
“Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace” (Rom. 8:5–6 NLT).
Insight Journal:
I remember a time in my life when I tried to pursue my own desires but ended up with discouragement even though I attained my goal. (Write the story.)
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