Self Control Comes Last

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But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,goodness, faith, meekness, self control; with such the law does not concern itself.  (Galatians 5:22,23)

Whenever man, in his own ability, endeavors to come up with a plan which will bring him closer to God, he usually begins with self control.   He figures he’ll do less of this, more of that, and thus will become more loving.  He, by his own force of will, will do just the right amount of everything, so his life will be in better balance and he’ll be closer to God.  Something along those lines.  Perhaps he determines he’ll do better in keeping the 10 Commandments, or get really involved in his church.

In contrast, God begins with love, and self control comes last on the list.  Self control, translated “temperance” in the King James, is really self mastery.  I have been a house painter for 43 years.  I have a self mastery in the interior painting of a house.  This does not mean I never make mistakes, but rather that I am confident during the duration of the job that I am doing things properly and efficiently.  There were many things I had to learn before arriving at this self mastery.  Similarly, spiritual self mastery only comes into fruition in life after other things have developed.

Number one is love.  Until you are loved by God, your life with Him can not even begin, much less develop.  You can not grow in your close spiritual relationship with God until you are rooted and grounded in His unequivocal love for you.  No matter your sin, no matter your poor behavior, no matter your devilish habits, God’s love for you stands supreme over all the devil’s hold on you.  His love is found in, only in, and completely in Christ.

But God commends (introduces as worthy) His own love unto us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died in our place.  (Romans 5:8)

God’s love for us, meant to dwell within us in the innermost part of our beings, was “favorably introduced” to us by Jesus dying on the cross in our place.  God didn’t just say, “Here’s my love, take it.”  He introduced His love to us by sending His son to die in our place.  God said to me, “Steve, allow Me to introduce My love for you.  Here, the death of my son Jesus is meant specifically for you.”   Jesus’ death has paid the penalty for all my sins, and all your sins, each and every one.

The consequence of sin is death, and that consequence in your life has already taken place, vicariously, by the spirit which now dwells within you – Christ.  If Christ is in you, then that means his death counts as the punishment for all your sin.  That is God’s love for you!

He Who spared not His Own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also together with him freely give us all things?  (Romans 8:32)

God did not have His son die for you simply so that your sins would be forgiven.  He had him die so that He could make you His Own beloved child and treat you as such – not because you are now worthy by your own efforts, but because He can now love you and you can now actually receive and enjoy that love.!  You were first introduced to the love which God has for you when you accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as meant for you.  You continue to be loved by God as you seek, discover and walk in the spirit of Christ which dwells within you.  That transforming love which gave you the life of God will continue its work in you as you continue to seek Christ.

For you have not received unto yourselves a spirit of bondage to fear again; but you have received unto yourselves the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, “Oh dear Father!”  The spirit (of the son of God) itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God; And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ;
(Romans 8:15-17a)

God’s love, which changed our hearts and lives, did not then (or ever) bring us into a bondage of being afraid to be wrong, of dwelling on our sin and shortcomings, of feeling guilty before God.  The devil did (and does) that.  The love by which God saved us was and is only meant to enrich us, to bring us into our spiritual inheritance, to bring us closer to God by making us like Christ.  The fruit of the spirit mentioned in Galatians are the qualities of Christ.

Joy – God’s love in us is meant to bring our thoughts into the strength of His joy, where the world is our oyster and our days are spent as gifts from heaven.

Peace – God’s love in us is meant to saturate our hearts in the protection of His peace, where there is no sense of threat or danger or conflict, from the world or from Him.

Longsuffering – God’s love in us is meant to show us the potential in others and to help make that potential a living reality, rendering all weakness in others as insignificant.

Gentleness – God’s love in us is meant to make the things of God useful to us, and our lives usefully beneficial to others. (same root as the “easy” yoke of Matthew 11:30)

Goodness – God’s love in us is meant to impart unto us a giving nature; of imparting, of adding into whatever situation or person we are involved with.

Faith – God’s love in us is meant to energize and enlarge our ability to see, understand, grasp and employ the wisdom and power of God.

Meekness – God’s love in us is meant to enable us to understand life from an infinite number of points of view.

Temperance – And finally, God’s love in us is meant to make life a readily manageable series of blessed experiences, made possible by the other spiritual qualities (fruit) filling our lives.

What makes the experiences of our lives blessed are the fruit, or results, that come about by our walking in the leading and empowering of the spirit of Christ.  Until our lives are blessed by the fruit of the spirit, mastery over self is at best an exercise in vanity.  How do you “control” a job, having a tool box that has no tools?  How do you organize a closet which is empty?  The ability to have dominance over oneself is only possible when we are filled by the completed spiritual qualities known as the fruit of the spirit, beginning with love.

Herein is love; not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His son to be the propitiation (restitution in full) for our sins.  (I John 4:10)

The “old man” of sin and death is not manageable, because it is dead to God, exists in spiritual darkness and decay,  and is at all times susceptible to the deceit of the devil.  Until our lives become filled with the fruit of the spirit of God, we will not be in a position to be able to master our lives.

Because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.  So then, they that are in the flesh can not please God.  (Romans 8:7, 8)

The world says, “All good things come by learning to master self.”  God says, “All good things come by receiving unto yourselves my love for you.  In that love, the other abilities of Christ will grow within you, to the end that you become masters of your lives.”  As love is the primary fruit, out of which all other spiritual fruit abounds, so self control (mastery) is the end result when and as they do.

And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind; that you may be able to prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.  (Romans 12:2)

Love is the energizing power which produces the fruit of the spirit.
Self mastery is the resulting reward of having all that fruit in operation in your life.

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Related Studies

If you enjoyed how this study challenged your thinking and opened up your understanding of Christ, click on one of the related studies below:

On Becoming Perfect
To Walk Worthy of God
Bearing Spiritual Fruit
How to love other Christians
HOW to Walk by the Spirit
Fruitfulness in Christ – Colossians 1:1-15

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