Galatians 5 is my single favorite chapter of the bible. For me, living in the grace that Jesus won for us is one thing I always need to relearn. Towards the end of the chapter, Paul lists the “fruits of the spirit”. Most of these seem like common sense, (ie. love, joy, peace, all the other words that we put in calligraphy around our houses), but the last fruit of the spirit he lists out is one that I commonly overlook. Self-control.
The foundation of Christianity is built on love, after Jesus won the victory for us, our only command is to love our neighbor and love God. I think it’s clear that love is by far the most important fruit of the spirit, it also is listed first in Paul’s list so I feel like that says something. Self-control is listed last, I think that also says something. If I were to build my faith with self-control being the foundation, that isn’t really a relationship with God… at all. Regardless, self-control IS a fruit of the spirit, meaning if the Holy Spirit lives inside you, he wants you to attain that value.
A little background about myself: I like the indoors. I like comfy clothes, I like food that is really bad for you, I like watching movies, I LIKE BEING COMFY! For the longest time, I felt like if I were going outside of my comfort zone spiritually, that was sufficient. Paul states in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 that we have a soul, spirit, and BODY that are all supposed to go through the sanctification process. To me, I valued my soul and spirit much more than my body, (I still do believe having a healthy soul and spirit is more important, but I was very disproportionate in my priorities).
Recently, I have been trying to allow God into my physical life and allow the Holy Spirit to convict me in areas of fitness, health, and how I treat my physical body. By being more self-controlled in what I eat, how often I work out, and how I get outside of my comfort zone physically, I am developing more self-control in my soul and spirit. Our body, soul, and spirit all work in cohesion with each other, and for the longest time, I allowed myself to think that the body is “less holy” when God cares A LOT about how we treat it!
As an enneagram 9, this concept is a little foreign to me. We like our blankies and cups of warm coffee ok? But WOW, has this lesson been liberating for me! I feel fear being stripped from my heart as I challenge my body. As I prepare for the world race, it has required me to really allow self-control into my heart and let it do it’s healing work within me. Who knew that God could take going to the gym and cutting out late night McDonald’s and use it to profoundly impact me?
