This is What We All Need

Titus 2:6
Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled.

Children are under the control of their parents. That is if the parents are sensible enough to control their children. Children don’t really need self-control since parents control them. As children grow, they learn self-control, but as children, they are under the care, guidance, and decision-making of their parents.

Adults who have experienced life are controlled by their good and bitter experiences. What they have experienced in life influences them to control their lives. Adults seem to have self-control but it’s actually controlled by their experiences in life.

Young people are being set free from the control of their parents. Young people don’t have experiences that can control them. Therefore what they need most is self-control. In the absence of parental control and experience control, they need self-control.

Apostle Paul tells Timothy to encourage young people to have self-control. Self-control means the ability to stop yourself while you are in motion. If your natural tendencies are in motion towards bad friends, you stop yourself and change direction and adopt new friends. The ability to stop yourself is self-control.

If your anger is almost overwhelming you, you stop yourself and walk away from the triggers of anger. That is self-control. Self-control is knowing where you are going and knowing if you are facing risks that can damage you. Self-control knows that if I start a fight I may get killed or kill somebody and end up in prison ruining my life. That knowledge and acting on it is self-control.

Think of what you are doing. Think of what can go wrong. Secure yourself from the risks of things going wrong. Self-control is refusing to place yourself at risk of harm.

What can go wrong with your money? Stolen? You can misuse? You can be conned? You can lend and never be repaid? To know these risks and ensure you are safe from them is what we call self-control. Do you have financial self-control? Knowing you will need the money for bills at the end of the month, don’t misuse the money now, that is self-control. To use all monies during the festive season and then a week later you complain of lack of money for essentials, this is lack of self-control.

What can go wrong with your health? Can your weight increase more than required? Can you get addicted? Can you suffer harm that will require expensive medical care? You need self-control to secure your health.

What can go wrong with your relationships? How will you feel when there is divorce and break up? How do you get secured against break up or against the pain of break up? Have a plan that doesn’t force the other person to be your friend and doesn’t harm them for rejecting you. That plan is what we call self-control.

What can go wrong spiritually? You may die suddenly and be hell-bound because you had no spiritual commitment to God? Since there is no repentance after death and we don’t know when and how we will die, what is your spiritual plan? How do you stop yourself from doing the wrong thing that will take you to hell? Did you know you can ask the Holy Spirit to help you? Knowing the risk and keeping safe from approaching the risk is self-control.

A motor vehicle can move at high speed. The braking system is its self-control. If the driver sense that it’s too fast for the sharp bend, breaks are applied. That is self-control. If breaks fail, we call that losing control. Human beings can lose control we need self-control. Like young people, we all need self-control in many aspects of life.

Dear God grant us self-control in everything, in Jesus’ name, Amen!

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