The Sweetest Fall

Part III – Falling to Self-Control

Hi bungee jump dude, I know you are the expert and I a novice, but I think I will get equipped and prepared on my own for my jump, said no one.  Yet, how often do we go about life as if saying, “God, I can do this without you, thanks”.

My pursuit was to understand self-control.  Self-control is an attribute of the fruit of The Spirit.¹  This self-control is not a product of our own strength or wisdom. How can we conquer battles within ourselves against ourselves?  Our mind is a battlefield and it must be guarded with Truth.  Truth is a revelation of The Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit operates in cooperation with others and on His own.  And so, we must surrender to God.

Areas not submitted to Christ, like our thoughts, are in a sense “un-tethered” from His grace.  Unable or unwilling to spiritually kneel, God’s grace becomes less and less attainable due to self serving accession or shameful retreat.  And so when a fall comes, there will not be a rebound, just a crash.  The fruit is born as a result of the blossoming of our submission to Christ.

Christ submitted Himself to the ones who would eventually torture Him and kill Him.  But His thoughts were properly contextualized.  The submission being truly to His Father’s will. From the garden, to Pilate, to the cross, submission led Him purpose. This was His path to make eternal life available for all of us.  We must allow God to renew our minds.  We can then properly regard submission in the context of submission to Christ so that we may be mindful of God’s will.  If we love Christ we follow Him and submit to His commandments.

Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
– Luke 9:23

Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”
– Mark 10:21

In fact cheap cialis soft this pill acts as a miracle drug for a large number of men experiencing Erectile Dysfunction (ED) problem. You should not crush, chew, or break your pill; you must swallow it cialis prices in india whole. online viagra overnight So, avoid doing excessive masturbation and herbal remedies for seminal discharge. It’s also possible that men will be viagra canada no prescription temporarily unable to urinate. Submission to Christ is unlike any experience the world can offer.  But, it is difficult relinquishing to Christ authority we can’t even relinquish to someone else. Our human experiences promulgate incorrect contextual paradigms of cynicism and skepticism towards the very word and idea.  So we battle as an army of one against things without being properly equipped.  We can’t “do it on our own” and think we have the self control to accomplish such a feat.  I wonder if this “self control / I can do it on my own” deception is one way addictions get a grip to our lives, thus keeping us from experiencing God’s power of grace over self.

A true knowledge of who He is reveals His character; belief in Him allows provision of His power over us; submission to Him gives us confidence to jump.  We don’t jump into Christ blindly, but rather we fall to our knees knowingly because we believe and when we believe, we trust.  In this trust, we receive peace which surpasses anxiety, fear, and insecurity.  Banishing doubt clears a fertile place for The Holy Spirit to bear its fruit.  Self-control is then the composure one displays because God rules in our lives.  In turn, we experience the fall into love for Christ.

Earlier I mentioned that in prayer I asked, “What does submission have to do with self-control”?  Why did I feel like falling?”  This is the short phrase I wrote in response:

“The sweetness of submission is to Jesus.  There is a peace and calmness that presides in His song over us.  Like a wave of wind that rocks you back and forth as if in the arms of love.  Feels like going into space. But there is this fear of falling.  And so my mind entertains the questions. Falling where, for it seems so vast? Falling for how long for I cannot see the end?  He said, ‘Falling in love, falling for ever’.”

 

 

1.  Galatians 5:22-23:    ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.