Lenten Devotional (34) & The Death of Death of The Devil

Self Control

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Devotional

Paul prefaces the fruit of the Spirit with the exhortation to be steadfast, which is another way of saying we need to practice strength. When our habits are not formed by godly things, we avoid that road of virtue. It’s precisely why Paul calls us to put ourselves in a position of strength and dominion.

It’s often said that the sin we most enjoy is the one we most condemn. That’s because we don’t like the idea of others indulging in our favorite sins. “That’s my sin! How dare you mess with it!” Paul would say you need to see sin as sin and be angry at all expressions, including your favorite flavor of sin. You must be in the Spirit, in step with the Triune God and living with the ascended Messiah all the time.

Now, I know we violate this list frequently, but we need to keep our eyes on the prize— the tree of life. If we lack love for one another, let’s not move on to plan B; let’s stay on track to loving one another. If we don’t show patience with our children, let’s not move on to another plan. Because at the end of the day, there is an interconnectedness to all these virtues, and Paul ties them all up in a beautiful bow called self-control.

For Paul, the only way you will ever live a life of faithfulness where these virtues are seen is if you decide to live in the realm of strength. And let me discourage you from thinking you have this ability or this strength; for Paul, these strengths are granted by the Spirit. We are not adorning our lives with the things we do and produce solely based on our works; for Paul, the fruit is something we receive. After all, these are called the fruits of the Spirit. To be truly free is to be truly indwelt by the Spirit of God.

Prayer: Grant us, O Lord, on this last before we commence Holy Week, to be filled with the Spirit and find refuge in the indwelling of the Third Person of the Godhead. We do not want to trust in our flesh but submit to the Spirit’s control over our flesh. So, help us, we pray, to walk in step with the Spirit towards Jerusalem and then to the empty tomb through Christ our Lord, Amen!

Notations

• I am working my way slowly through The Princess and Curdie. The benefit of slow reading through fiction is that you can contemplate unique features of the author’s ethical approach. George MacDonald breathes Christianity, but he speaks piously about the ethics of relationships. For instance, in chapter 5, Curdie finally speaks concerning the Old Lady. Many around him—with little knowledge—believe that she must be necessarily evil. When Curdie is finally summoned to share his opinion, he challenges the status quo and asserts that it would be better that he who “says anything about her should be quite sure it is true, lest she should hear him, and not like to be slandered.” MacDonald’s ethics come shining through. We should speak true things of people, and if they were present, they should assent to the description.

• My final episode on eschatology in response to full preterism is here.