A Short Thought on Self Control and Discipline

We live in a culture that screams to us at every corner, “you are justified in having all of your desires met, and if you don’t have them met, something is wrong.” Thus, our desires can easily come to master us, keeping us in bondage and often escalating out of control. On this topic, Dallas Willard states, “desire itself is not bad, but desire is not meant to master our lives. It isn’t that desires or feelings are overwhelming, but they are overwhelming if you concede to them time and time again.” In contrast,
the way of Jesus—the way of the cross—says, “not only will you be ok when you crucify your flesh with its earthly desires, but you will find a divine power through the Holy Spirit to live a life of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control,” (Galatians 5).

The New Testament is full of exhortations to have discipline and self control. In Matthew 5, Jesus said, “if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” I actually appreciate that Jesus used graphic imagery when talking about our need for self control, because it shows he understands how hard and painful it might be to crucify our desires to sin. In every NT admonishment to have self control, self control in and of itself is not the end goal. The goal is always to better know, see, and walk intimately with Jesus, experiencing a life of power, victory, freedom, and abundance. God does not call us to self control because he wants to keep us from fun or fulfillment. On the contrary, He wants our best, which is a life characterized by intimacy with Him, power, love, and being filled with His Spirit.

We cannot muster up self control, so how do we get it? Our part is to train and practice self control to the best of our ability, not letting desire rule over us and always reminding ourselves that we will be just fine if we don’t get our way. Most importantly, though, God must give us self control through his Spirit that dwells in the heart of every disciple of His. As we yield to him and do our part, His character will burst forth in our innermost being, producing beautiful fruit in accordance with His nature, including self control.