The Importance of Self-Control

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. —Romans 12:2

Too often we focus on trying to change or stop our behavior—“I won’t,” “I’ll quit,” “I promise”—without understanding the trigger behind our actions. That’s because those actions originate not in our wills or circumstances but in our minds.

The reason you lashed out at that person isn’t that he or she did something to hurt you. It’s because in that moment when frustration and anger erupted in impatient, fiery words, you weren’t operating from a sound mind. The reason you ate that whole bag of chips was that you weren’t thinking sensibly. Or you look up one day, sick from the bitter consequences of a reckless, shortsighted decision and wonder, Why didn’t I stop before it came to this?

Here’s why: because you weren’t sophron. You weren’t self-controlled.

We’re talking about a virtue as foundational for the Christian life as the ABCs are for a child’s education. If we don’t master this, we’ll struggle with every other virtue and spiritual discipline. To be self-controlled—to have a sophron mind—is basic to every believer in every season of life.

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Adorned: Living Out the Beauty of the Gospel Together

©2017 Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth

Scripture taken from The CSB