1Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. 2For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honour, 5not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.8Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
How often in our everyday lives do we hear the the phrase "I couldn't control myself". It can be heard in a variety of different contexts, e.g. shopping, indulging in various foods or drinks, being under the influence of alcohol, etc. It seems that instead of practising self-control we are willing to let certain external aspects of our lives have authority over what we do.When Paul tells us to 'control our own body' it seems as if he is insinuating that we have granted the opportunity for other aspects of our lives to take control. The following is a brief list of the things which I feel have great control over our actions in our day to day lives:
- Lust - In the passage from 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 above, Paul uses this notion of self-control in the context of sexual immorality. How much care is taken in our lives as to how we look, how we act towards people or what we practice in regards to our relationships with the opposite sex. How often are our actions influenced by our fleshly desires and not by that of the Spirit? (See Romans 8:1-16, Galations 5:16-28)
- Addiction - When we hear the word 'addiction', what do we instantly think of? Alcohol? Drugs? Pornography? In fact, anything in our life can become an addiction or an 'idol' in regards to Biblical teaching. I have seen people who have become addicted to television, video games, sports, music, boyfriends/girlfriends, coffee, etc. The list is endless, yet each of these have the potential to become an idol, getting in the way of our relationships with family, friends but most of all God. The Enemy will use these idols to take control of our lives, so we should be willing to give up everything which is finite in order to follow the infinite Jesus Christ. (See Exodus 20:4-6, Romans 1:18-25)
- The masks that we wear - This is quite a fitting subject as we emerge from the season of Halloween. What do we want people to see when they look at us? How many of our actions are influenced by the person that we wish to portray ourselves to be. We wish to portray ourselves to be strong when we our weak, that we know much about a particular subject to seem intelligent when in fact we our ignorant towards it, that we walk in the Spirit when we in secret still indulge in the desires of the flesh. Our actions are often controlled by the opinions that we desire from those around us. Jesus uses the word 'hypocrite' to describe the practices of the Pharisees, stemming from the Greek hypokritḗs meaning a stage actor, hence one who pretends to be what he is not. Are we under the control of the part that we play in society or the actor himself/herself? (See Matthew 6)
I have often had conversations with non-Believers who say that they are free to do what they want, that they are 'their own God'. When I look at the world I can only see chaos. I see people bound by the idols that they worship, outside of and within the Church. The only freedom that we can experience is that which is found in Jesus Christ - 'For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery' (Galatians 5:1).
Paul tells us that it is the will of God that each of us should aim to to control his own body in holiness and honour. By submitting to the will of God, we are breaking the control that the Enemy tries to exert over our lives. After God favours Abel's sacrifice of Cain's, He says to Cain in Genesis 4:6-7, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it". Satan's desire is to take control of our lives by taking our eyes off God and onto the worship of idols. We must be aware of the idols that take control of our decisions, so that all of our thoughts, words and deeds will be in the glorification of God who is blessed forever! Amen.
God Bless you all,
J
Heavenly Father, I pray that you will break any idols in our lives that affect our relationship with You. Allow us to exercise control over our bodies in a way which is holy and honourable to You and make known to us Your will for our lives. Forgive us for making idols of the gifts that you have given us. May we put you as the centre of our lives, allowing you to take the crown as King of our hearts. Amen
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