Mouth, Money, and Hormones, A Look At Self-Control

255 - Today's Prime Time Devo comes from 2Ti 3:1-3, “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control,” 2 Tim 3:1-3) Next on the list of strength sapping influences and behaviors in the church is a lack of self-control. The word in the Greek means incontinent. Anyone who has ever had to put on a “Depend” before leaving the house knows what that word means. You have no control over one of your basic bodily functions and if you don't slip on a diaper, you will have an embarrassing mess! Imagine a congregation in which individual members have lost control over their mouths, their pocketbooks, their hormones. What an embarrassing mess to all onlookers! Let's look at three areas where a lack of self-control becomes evident: Mouth, money, and hormones! Tongues often wag among the sheep and it's like they have brushed their teeth with gunpowder and start shooting off their mouth with no thought of the words that assassinate the character of others. Then there's money: A congregation without self-control in their spending and borrowing ties their hands with so much debt that they are not able to help the poor in their midst or send out missionaries. Then there's hormones. Trysts and affairs amongst members become the talk of the community! Again, this should not be so, and yet this lack of self-control will greatly diminish the strength of a church! What does the Bible say about self-control in these three areas? First of all, the tongue: Pr 13:3 He who guards his mouth preserves his life, But he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction. Next, control over money: Pr 23:4,5, “ Do not overwork to be rich; Because of your own understanding, cease! 5 Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away like an eagle toward heaven. Finally, sexual immorality: 1Th 4:3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; The bottom line is Pr 25:28 Whoever has no rule over his own spirit Is like a city broken down, without walls. A congregation where self-control is lacking, has no defense against the enemies of God! What to do? How does one regain self-control? It's not easy, it's a battle, but a battle that can be won, when we submit to the rule of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It's part of the “fruit” package that He brings to His church!