Who Controls YOUR Life? --- Gal 5:23

Theme Scripture

“But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Here there is no conflict with the law.”—Galatians 5:22-23  [NLT]

 Additional Scripture

“5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience GODliness; 7 And to GODliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. 8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” – 2Pet 15-8 [KJV]

“5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to GOD’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with GODliness, 7 and GODliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. 8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” [NLT]

Thoughts:

 Contemplating Temperance; trying to understand its nuances and how it fits with today’s Christian walk. The diagram above reflects the two branches of temperance; Gentleness and Sobriety. As we explore the two branches may we come to understand the blessed benefits of temperance!

First: Gentleness has this sense:

1) moral goodness, integrity

2) benignity, kindness

Does it not soothe your spirit merely to read the words: ‘moral goodness, integrity, kindness’? How can it not. In a world where the opposite is more often our experience to consider just the words could soothe us says much. Yet, imagine if YOU were the embodiment of ‘moral goodness, integrity and kindness’? How would you affect the world around you?

For those of us raised in the 50’s, 60’s and 70's, we watched as images were promoted on the television that reflected what was believed to be examples of ‘moral goodness’ and ‘integrity’ and ‘kindness’. Who could forget Lassie and Timmy’s family? Who could forget the Walton’s and their intergenerational family dealing with the transitional mores as ‘moral goodness and integrity’ served as the guiding light to which they arrived during each conflict. As the years progressed the images we watched began lamenting  that ‘moral goodness and integrity’ had disappeared and was usually reckoned to ‘hard working’ ‘honest’ individuals as ‘good people’ who ‘work hard’ -- as if they were a species of human that was being migrated from the everyday prevalent norm to the endangered list. And now, today, they are referred to as ‘in the day’ or questioned as to ‘why they struggled so hard for their beliefs?’ These same individuals are moved now from the endangered list to the ‘near extinct’ list.

Yet, when we see examples of ‘moral goodness’ and ‘integrity’ we are heartened that such individuals still remain --- in this day and age as a reminder that we are not all lost. Their presence may be a faded light, but we could follow it on our path back to ‘right’.

Where is gentleness today? Is there a place in our busy competitive lives for gentleness? Does it seem refreshing to you? This brings us to the second branch of Temperance: Sobriety

Second: Sobriety has this sense:

 What is Sobriety? We have heard it often as it relates to those who have successfully engaged in a 12-step program. Sobriety is something protected moment to moment and with cherish. Some synonyms for sobriety are: abstaining, moderation, refraining, self-restraint, and soberness.

The one branch, ‘gentleness’, seems to have no limit! In fact, the more one exhibits moral goodness, integrity and kindness the more endearing the person becomes. The other branch, sobriety, requires ‘self-restraint, abstinence, and moderation’. Is gentleness and sobriety mutually exclusive? Are they interdependent? Remember, we are speaking of the ‘Fruitage of GOD’s Holy Spirit’ not some ‘self-effort’. Recall, the preceding verses  [Galatians 5:19-20] clearly identify if left to our own devices, the flesh, we would do all things to our own detriment; which case has clearly been evinced in the world around us.

Moral goodness, integrity, kindness, sobriety EQUALS Temperance, a FRUITAGE of HOLY SPIRIT. Consider the bottom portion of the graphic above, we see Self Control is the embodiment of temperance.

Many in today’s world fully understand there is no ‘fleshly’ or ‘natural’ inclination towards self-control. But are we lost?

Who has not heard the Serenity Prayer?

“GOD grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.”

 The opening verses reflect a dependence on GOD and WISDOM to face or tackle the daily issues. Prayer! It is the first step to counter our ‘natural’ inclination. The Fruitage of Holy Spirit will remind us we cannot go it alone, we must depend on GOD and the way we do that is by engaging GOD in our daily lives, moment by moment. Only GOD can grant you the Peace [serenity] that comes from identifying what your limitations are and to act accordingly --- in other words --- fix what you can, understand there are some things you cannot and of course reliance on GOD to assist you in identifying the difference between the two.

As we ponder this fruitage -- ‘temperance/self-control’ which also includes two other fruitages, gentleness and kindness -- might we reflect upon our own level of moral goodness, our own integrity our own level of kindness.

Contemplate:

When was the last time you were really struck with the level of someone else’s integrity, moral goodness and kindness? Did it cause you to reflect upon your own? It is good to pray for GOD to imbue us with HIS HOLY SPIRIT and if we seek TEMPERANCE to pray through petition and supplication for our spirit to be refreshed with this important fruitage.

May GOD lift you and bring you the peace the surpasses all thought! --Phil 4:4-7 †

©Lightwritingmatters 2015

 Bibles Designations

KJV – King James Version

NIV – New International Version

NWT – New World Translation

ASV -- American Standard Version

 DISCLAIMER: The thoughts published on this blog, in total, are the opinions, thoughts and considerations of the writer/author of every post published. It is assumed that research by the reader will lead the reader to their own conclusions. It is not the writer’s intent to make a judgment of anyone but to allow GOD’s Word to do what it does. “For the word of GOD is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from GOD’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” – Hebrews 4:12 [NIV]