14 April 2009 - Self-control

But you must keep control of yourself in all circumstances. (2 Timothy 4:5)

Self-control is a very decent value observed by everyone regardless of religions, cultures, and nations. But at the same time, it is the greatest challenge to every people. Ironically, the hardest thing to control is not a multinational company, not a world organization, and not even a country, but oneself. Many problems in the world are caused by inability of human to control themselves. Many miseries in this life, either those fall on ourselves or on other people, are caused by the lack of self-control. For example, why is it so hard to control the global warming? Are the green campaign and other preventive measures not enough? Not really... What is definitely not enough is self-control of each of the earth's inhabitants. If we could have just controlled ourselves from using too much water, from wasting too much gasoline, and from using too much electricity, the world will be better than today's.

Furthermore, self-control is one the fruits of the Spirit. Paul encouraged Timothy to keep control of himself. When we lose control, many bad things can happen. But if we keep the control and if we even let Jesus to take the control of our lives, we will surely have more positive lives. The simplest practice is to control our mouth. Gossiping and insulting others can cause great problems in our relationships, and these are the results of our inability to control our saying. Isn't it better to offer words of encouragement and truthful praises to others? We all know what is wrong, but we cannot resist from the temptation to keep on doing the wrong things. Yes, we are weak, but maybe we are not even attempting to resist. We must look at ourselves and reflect. Have we put the control of our lives to Jesus?

I remember a song by Carrie Underwood “Jesus Takes The Wheel”. When we try to hold the wheel and drive our lives wherever we think the best, we tend to lose our way, wander from the correct path, and lose control of our lives. It is all because we are sinners. The Bible says that our tendencies were all evil, until Jesus came into our lives. When He takes the wheel and drives our lives to where God wants us to be, we find our way again. When Jesus is on the driver's seat, we can get back the control of our lives. Instead of being constrained, we are being freed to do good when we surrender the wheel to Jesus. If we know someone's very good at driving, we would rather trust our car on his or her hands, wouldn't we? The same thing here. We believe that God knows what's best for us, then why don't we trust Him to lead our whole lives?