“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:23

As we look to Jesus, we must remember that he was fully God and fully human. He lived the life we can’t live to show us the way to live. One of the best accounts of Jesus having self-control, was in the face of 40 days and 40 nights of temptation by Satan. “And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan.” Mark 1:13a We read of the temptations from Satan in Matthew 4:1-11. There is similarity between these temptations and Eve’s temptations. (see chart below)

Temptation	Genesis 3	Matthew 4
Appeal to physical appetite	3:1 – Eat of any tree	4:3 – Change stones into bread
Appeal to personal gain	3:4 – You will not die	4:6 – You will not hurt your foot
Appeal to power or glory	3:5 – You will be like God	4:8,9 – You will have all the world’s kingdoms

Eve didn’t display self-control—Jesus did! He is our example. Let’s look at how he did it.

Jesus knew the scriptures. He knew the Word of God and the power it holds. By knowing the Word, he was able the use the Word against Satan’s temptations. He showed us that the Word defeats Satan. The Word is Truth! Satan is the father of lies. Truth wins out.

The source of Jesus’ self-control was being led by the Spirit. Jesus relied on the power of the Spirit and the Word to come against Satan. In this way, he is identifying with us because we, as followers of Christ, have the same Spirit and Word to rely on. We have the same power to draw on to overcome temptations.

Another source of his self-control was his trust in God, the Father. We read in 1 Peter 2:23, “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.” In the midst of such great suffering, Jesus did not give into a desire for revenge but instead kept on trusting God. We need to do the same thing. Part of our problem is we are not really sure of God’s character. The study of his character is so valuable for everyday living. Life may be very hard, but God’s character is the same. His love, goodness, mercy, grace, faithfulness, and kindness never change. We can trust him to help us when we are tempted to be totally out of control.

This brings us back to what we looked at in the first post on self-control, self-responsibility. We have a responsibility to follow the example that Jesus has set for us. This means we need to know the Word, be led by the Spirit, and trust God our Father in all things. Life can be very difficult at times, and we may be angry or grieve what is going on. The key is to not give way to sin. When we do, we are not displaying self-control. When life is hard, we must remember, “…sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you…” Genesis 4:7b Therefore, we must be ready to fight with the weapons of TRUTH and TRUST. We can remind ourselves of the Word and the character of God. This will give us clear mindedness in the midst of difficulty.

“The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be self-controlled and sober minded for the sake of your prayers.” 1 Peter 4:7

The end times began immediately following Christ’s ascension. Christ’s return was imminent then, and it is now. Our instructions here, from Peter, are very clear. We are to be self-contolled in our lives so that we can pray and live the life we are called to live, so that others see Christ at work. Along with that, we are to be clear-minded realizing that we have a short time to serve Christ, and we need to be all about it. The older I get, the more this is a reality for me. The time is short. When we live this way, we will have a better focus in our prayers.

In conclusion, our responsibility is to know God, know the Word, rely on the leading of the Spirit, and trust fully in God’s sovereignty. He knows what he’s doing. When we live this way, we will have self-control that others will be able to see, which will be a reflection of Christ. Today, take the time to reflect on the following verse.

“The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.” Psalm 138:8