Self Control

I've been preaching on the character qualities we are admonished to cultivate in 2 Peter 1:5ff. One of them is self control. This is a phrase that brings me back to my childhood school days. Remember the dreaded Parent/Teacher Conference nights? "Your son has a great deal of potential as a student. He only lacks self control." I'm afraid the battle still rages on.

I have learned a few things. That there are no magic formulas. No quick solutions. No mere adjustments in terminology, no repetition of affirmations describing the self from God's point of view. No once and forever consecration or eradication of the "old man". Peter's admonition to control the self refutes perfectionism. If the self were perfected it wouldn't need to be controlled.

The very idea of self control assumes that the self is divided, complicated. It continues to present us with a serious challenge by producing tendencies to do wrong. The challenge is to "deny ourselves" and "take up our cross daily," as Jesus says, and follow him (Luke 9:23).