Gentleness & Self-Control

In our eighth & final installment of "getting fruity", we closed with gentleness & self-control. Both are huge characteristics of God that can be applied separately, but I thought there was a beautiful application in tying them together.

Gentleness, in the Greek, is translated into meekness. And meekness is used as a word to describe a broken horse. A wild horse broken of its ways into controlled power. Naturally, a horse is an extremely powerful animal. But that power is of no use when out of control. It cannot be used for good. But, in submission, the horse becomes very powerful. Becomes very useful.

And just like the horse, we're no good out of control. We're no good running wild under the power of self & sin. And God can't use us. We can't be used for good.

BUT, in submission to God's control, we become useful. We become that much more powerful. All it takes is submission. Willing to be broken.

And Jesus shows us exactly how to put this into practice. In Matthew 11:29, Jesus refers to Himself as meek & calls us to learn from Him & be like Him. And Jesus always recognized God the Father as authority. He always submitted to the Father's will & never His own. He was broken. He submitted. He was meek.

So it's very easy to see that true self-control begins with true submission to God's control. 1 Thessalonians 5:8 tells that because we belong to God, we are called to be self-controlled. That because we are in submission to God's will & control, we are therefore called to be self-controlled. And we cannot have self-control without already belonging to the Father's control. It goes hand-in-hand.

So who's control are you submitting to? Are you submitting to the control of this world? To your self? To your sinful desires?

Or are you submitting to God's control? Are you practicing true self-control by submitting to God's control?

Be gentle. Be meek. Be broken. Be submissive. Be controlled.

JV