Verse: 1 Corinthians 9:27
I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
Devotion
Growing up I always thought of self-control as what I could force myself NOT to do, even if I wanted to do it really really badly. Don’t eat junk food, don’t yell in anger, don’t stay up late. Don’t don’t don’t. I still think there’s value in the NOT doing of things, but there’s way more value in the doing, when it comes to self-discipline.
You can’t prepare yourself to run a marathon only by NOT doing things. You still have to actively work towards the goal, and practice, and better yourself along the way. It’s about training yourself to shape your mind and your body into the tools that they need to be in order to meet the goal. We train ourselves to be fit. Fit to share God’s message to those who need to hear it. Fit to exhibit these various fruits of the Spirit that we’ve been talking about in church and in devotions lately. Fit to be able to obey the active parts of the Bible, not just the restrictions.
As a bit of an exercise, simply pick one of the fruits of the Spirit and put it into practice today. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Author: Jordan Ambra
Recent Comments