The Fruit of the Spirit Is Self-Control

View this lesson in a browser and print a "take-away" weekly copy. CLICK HERE (see link below)

LESSON 10

*February 27 - March 5

The Fruit of the Spirit IsSelf-Control

SABBATH AFTERNOON

Read for This Week's Study:

Judges 13-16; 1 Cor. 9:24-27; Phil. 4:8; Col. 3:1-10; Heb. 12:1, 2; 1 John 2:15, 16.

Memory Text:

"But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified" (1 Corinthians 9:27, NKJV).

Though listed last by Paul in Galatians 5:22, 23, "self-control" (sometimes translated "temperance") is surely not the least of the fruit of the Spirit. It could easily have been first, because it plays a major role in the maturing of other spiritual fruit. It might be said that self-control is the glue that holds all the other qualities together. Like other fruit of the Spirit, self-control is a gift of grace. It has been called "disciplined grace": grace because it is free, disciplined because there is something for us to do. Self-control may sound negative, but it is an integral part of grace itself. If we don't control ourselves—our feelings, our appetites, our drives—then they control us. Thus, it's either self-control under the grace and power of the Holy Spirit or it's being controlled by someone or something else. We, ultimately, decide.

*Study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, March 6.