Blogging Bridges: Self-Control

This is one of the best chapters in Jerry Bridges' Respectable Sins - ch.13, "Self-Control." That's true of most chapters, actually.

Bridges first points out that this is a significant biblical teaching: as one of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5), its absence in one's life is deemed a serious defect (2 Timothy 3:3). Then Bridges convincingly illustrates how, as Christians, we often lack this important virtue:

Despite the scriptural teaching on self-control, I suspect this is one virtue that receives little conscious attention from most Christians. We have boundaries from our Christian culture that tend to restrain us from obvious sins, but within those boundaries we pretty much live as we please. ... And because we tolerate this, we become more vulnerable to other "respectable" sins. (p.110)

Bridges later speaks of a few specific areas where we "pretty much live as we please": food, temper, and personal finances. Ouch.

Bridges then makes this important note:

Biblical self-control is not a product of one's own natural will-power. We know there are plenty of unbelievers who exercise self-control in specific areas of life for the purpose of achieving some goal. But in other areas, they may live with little or no self-control. An athlete may be strict in his diet while totally lacking in control of his temper. (p.110)

In other words, the Christian's self-control needs to be generated by the Holy Spirit and a heart committed to godliness. It will manifest itself in multiple areas; it cannot be faked or "worked up."

Yet if we pinpoint in our lives one of the three areas Bridges mentioned - how we eat, our temper, or how we spend our money - I think we'll find that self-control becomes contagious. As we eat more selectively, we'll likely use our money more selectively. As Jesus said, "He who is faithful in little is also faithful in much."

And ultimately that's what this book is all about!