Good Morning you lovely people, and welcome to the last in this series. We will move on to something else on Tuesday, but I hope you have enjoyed walking with me along the road that leads to Self Control! Everybody’s favourite Fruit of the Spirit.

Just to put things in to perspective, we have been unpacking the Fruits of the Spirit that Paul talks about in Galatians 5. 22-23 
The Fruits of the Spirit are Love, Joy , Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control.

Paul teaches us that if we are led by the Spirit we will encounter these things in contrast to the unpleasantness of being led by the passions of the world. And who would not want these beautiful attributes in their life.

So, Self Control!
Firstly a little humorous aside. I once suggested to our Chaplaincy Council that as a fund raiser we could run a Smoothie Stall at events, selling our own recipes Fruits of the Spirit Smoothies, called Love, Joy Peace etc. My suggestion was that Self Control was more of a cocktail than a smoothie, and we could put vodka in it. Sadly the idea never came to fruition but I still like it as a concept.

Anyway, back to the matter in hand. Paul sets the scene in Romans 7.15 ‘I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ‘
It is so gratifying that even Paul struggles with this one.
Just to put this all in context, we love the idea of being in control of our actions, but in reality, sometimes they control us. Have you ever had to go on a diet? Why was that?
Have you ever tried to cut down on those things you do too much? Of course you have. I remember my friend telling me ‘It is easy to give up smoking; I have done it hundreds of times!’ You also know that feeling when you are told to do something. Don’t press the red button, don’t press the red button, don’t press the red button, press the red button.

The examples are endless, and we all fall short regularly. Sometimes the consequences are minimal, but they can be catastrophic! I have lost count of the funerals I did years ago when the driver only popped out for one drink, but stayed longer than they had planned.

Paul acknowledges that it is really hard, and describes the thing that causes it as the sin which is inside of us. And of course he is right, but probably using words which don’t help as much today. We like to think of a broad range of ideas that impact out actions: peer pressure, the emotion of the crowd, advertising, ignorance, addiction, personality, and our false ego which lies so easily to us, and draws us away from our true self.
All of these, and many more are encompassed by Paul’s use of the term ‘sin’.
But when we read more of Romans, we get to understand what sin actually is, and it is pretty simple. Sin is not taking God seriously.

On our own, we certainly fall short, and do those things that we don’t want to do. The harder we strive, the greater our fall. But we know that fruits are not the result of us striving, but the consequence of us ‘Living by the Spirit. The more we allow God to influence our lives, the more likely we are to experience those beautiful fruits.

So, here is the a simple idea that can have a huge affect on our lives, and it is just to take God seriously. 
To do that we bring God much closer to ourselves, and don’t think of some great abstract concept, but rather the intimate and personal companion who is Jesus, and whose Spirit dwells within us.

The lovely Saint Lawrence does every action to the glory of God, so much so that it becomes his natural process. We can learn from that, and have God in our minds as we make our choices. It is not about beating ourselves up, but rather allowing the presence of God to inform, inspire and encourage us, and when that happens we will practice self control.

I hope you are having a great day, and that you continue to walk the paths of the Fruits of the Spirit.

Next Tuesday we will begin something new, until then, Bless you, Bless you, Bless you.

As ever,

Fr Marcus