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[size=large]The Fruit of The Spirit is Self Control[/size]
"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.
1 Corinthians 9:24 (New International Version) "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize."
1 John 2:15-16 (New International Version) "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world."
Self-control may sound negative, but it is an integral part of grace itself. If we don't control ourselves
"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.
1 Corinthians 9:24 (New International Version) "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize."
1 John 2:15-16 (New International Version) "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world."
Self-control may sound negative, but it is an integral part of grace itself. If we don't control ourselves
Ma Betty