“The spiritual nature produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22, 23).
The Great Wall of China is 13,170 miles long. (Want to know how long that is? The United States is only 2,900 miles across from east to west.)
The thing is, the Great Wall isn’t actually one wall. It’s a whole bunch of walls—some run parallel to each other and some are in sections all by themselves. Because of this, it didn’t actually protect the country from being invaded by Genghis Kahn one thousand years ago—a time when citizens were slaughtered by the invading army.
Self-control is your spiritual wall. “Like a city broken into and left without a wall, so is a person who lacks self-control” (Proverbs 25:28). At your baptism, the Holy Spirit came to live inside of you, giving you a spiritual wall. A complete wall, not one that can be walked around or run over. Maybe it means not cheating to get an A or not yelling at your brother for coming into your room. Or maybe it means not rolling your eyes at your parents’ “dumb” rules. You can’t control that on your own. As God’s child, you act differently all because God’s kindness “trains us to avoid ungodly lives filled with worldly desires so that we can live self-controlled, moral, and godly lives in this present world” (Titus 2:12).
Dear Holy Spirit, thank you for your gift of self-control. Amen.
