When was the last time you saw or heard our society encourage the need for self-control? Unfortunately, the call for people to control their impulses and base desires has been rejected by the world. The need to control immoral urges seems to have been replaced with a demand for environmental guidelines and rules. Were we not told just this week that we need to be self-controlled in our use of gas stoves and natural resources? This environmental brow-beating is misdirecting people from the true problems of society. Where is the demand to reign in corruption, pornography, illicit sex, greed, and gluttony? Where is the call for people to be morally self-controlled?
It comes as no surprise that our society will not encourage this type of self-control. We have to look to a supernatural source for this type of guidance because the natural world is geared towards sin and corruption.
The Bible speaks very strongly about the need for self-control. Proverbs 25:28 says, “A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” In other words, without self-control a person has no defense against the temptations of the world. Without discernment the Christian can quickly give in to a myriad of temptations that will have permanent and painful results. Proverbs 13:15 puts it like this, “Good sense wins favor, but the way of the treacherous is their ruin.”
One of the most famous illustrations in the Bible about self-control is found in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 5:1-6 says, “My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding, that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge. For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol; she does not ponder the path of life her ways wander, and she does not know it.”
Proverbs 7 goes on to tell a dramatic story about a foolish young man who meets a prostitute on the city streets and follows her to her lair. It says, “With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him. All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its liver, as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.” (Proverbs 7:21-23)
Taken together these two passages create a strong argument for self-control. They appeal to the human instinct for self-protection. Why would anyone willingly follow a path that leads to death? The reason, according to Proverbs, is that they were unaware of the danger. If the young man is shown the danger of sin, he will be motivated to turn away from it.
This is one reason the Bible is so valuable today. It is the only place where the reader can find divine warnings about the reality of sin and the need for repentance. It is the only place where morality is defined by the holiness of God. Leviticus 19:2 says, “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” God’s holiness is perfect. He is a God of truth, righteousness, purity, and goodness. He can not allow wickedness to dwell in his presence. He created the world to be pure and sinless, but when Adam and Eve sinned, the world was plunged into perpetual wickedness. This is why God had to provide a solution for sin. This is why Jesus Christ came to the earth. He lived a perfect life and died on the cross so that he could make the payment for our sins (Romans 10:9-10). He did so in order to fulfill God the Father’s need for sin to be paid. He did so to bring glory to God.
This last point is important to bring up in relation to living a life of self-control. The Christian should be motivated to live a holy life because of his or her desire to glorify God. The Christian should resist temptation because he wants to do the will of the Father. The will of the Father is for us to do good works. Jesus said, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16) If a Christian recognizes the joy and peace that comes from living for God then he will be willing to resist temptation for he knows that path brings pain and death, but the narrow path of God brings joy and life eternal!
