Abiding-The Fruit of Self-Control
I walked through the door and sat the Shoney’s bag down on the counter. I heard her feet immediately coming down the stairs. She had never had a Shoney’s hot fudge cake. I didn’t know how you could be 11 and never have eaten one. But of course I grew up in a small town and in a season where Shoney’s was the only restaurant in town. And every Sunday night it was the “go-to” after church.
She came into the kitchen, eye’s wide, hands opening the bag. “I didn’t eat a chocolate muffin, or a cinnamon roll.”
“Good job babe. It will be so worth it.”
She poured the hot fudge over her cake and before I knew it it was all gone.
“What’s that called?”
She smiled. Big. “Delayed gratification.”
“Was it worth it?” I asked.
She just nodded frantically as she licked the remaining chocolate from her lips.
Self-Control mocks us. We surrender our hearts over and over again to the pulls of our flesh. Our wants. Our lusts. Our soul thirsts. But in the beauty of abiding something holy is discovered. God has provided a fruit that has such power, such brute force. It gives us the ability to be loving when we don’t feel so loving. It gives us the ability to live in joy when our circumstances breed anger. It gives us the ability to live at peace when our heart would give way to fear. It gives us the ability to be long-suffering, kind and good, when life hurts, people are cruel and situations are trying. It gives us the ability to live in faithfulness when the tempter lures and roams. And it gives us the ability to be gentle when being hard is so much easier.
It is the final fruit, yet potentially the most valuable. Because so much rides on the wings of self-control. And so much is lost when it doesn’t exist. “They die because they have no self-control. Their utter stupidity will send them to their graves.” (Proverbs 5:23 NLT)
“Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.” (Proverbs 25:28 NIV)
As we come to the end of these thoughts on the Fruit of the Spirit, may we remember, that abiding is the key. That really is the question. Because “apart from me you can do nothing.” There is no fruit, no life, separate of relationship with Jesus Christ. Complete and utter surrender of our own lives, into the saving grace that is Jesus. Believing that God sent Him and raised Him from the dad and believing that He is Lord. Then asking Him to be yours.
There is no better life than one that abides. And no better gift to the lives of others than the fruit they can pick when we do.
