By Lysa Terkeurst, Excerpt from “Made to Crave”
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23A)
Self- control is hard. We don’t like to deny ourselves. We don’t think it’s necessary. We make excuses and declare, “That’s nice for someone else, but I could never give up ____________________!” (fill in the blank: soda, sugar, cupcakes, alcohol, smoking, etc.)
If we’re relying on ourselves, that excuse may be true. But there’s another level to self-control that too few of us find. “Humanly speaking it is impossible. But with God everything is possible” (Matthew 19:26b NLT).
We tend to think of this verse saying, “With God, all goodthings are possible! With God, all lavish things are possible!” But if you study this verse in context, it actually means, “With human effort alone, it can seem impossible to deny yourself. With human effort alone it can seem impossible to make sacrifices. With human effort alone, it can seem impossible to have self-control. But with God, all sacrificial things are possible. With God, all self-control is possible.”
I believe this one vital shift in our thinking can help us shift from feeling deprived to feeling empowered. Try this little exercise at home today: Open up your fridge or your pantry and look at the options. Say to yourself, “I’m not deprived of an unhealthy option. I’m empowered to make a healthy choice.”
By God’s power, we are empowered. Humanly speaking, this is impossible. But with God, everything is possible.
Rather than giving in to the foods we crave, we can have God’s self-control to make completely different decisions – decisions for health, decisions for renewed energy, decisions for confidence and peace. Most importantly, decisions that honor both our bodies and God!
Thought for the Day: By God’s power, we are empowered. Humanly speaking, this is impossible. But with God, everything is possible.
