So… what actually IS self control? In its simplest and most basic form it is control exercised by you over you or directed by you rather than control coming from the outside, from someone else. Self control is not, however, designed as a deterrent to creativity. It is not meant to inhibit or stop the new or the different. Self control is like that check you sense in yourself prior to doing or saying something you’ll regret later. You can choose to exercise self control or not… but be assured that if you don’t, something or someone else will.
I believe your self control starts with your personal ethics. Simply defined this means dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation – it’s your set of moral principles or system of moral values (according to Webster). You may not have written this down but instinctively you know what you believe and how you will act. And this is tested often. You refine or validate your own principles but you discard them only rarely.
Self control is one of those personal building blocks/foundational structures that impacts so many other areas of your life. Integrity rests on self control as does how you define the ‘big’ words like responsibility, honor, character, etc. Without self control you enter into a life of no restraints which ultimately will lead to restraints place by others.
I realize that typically we view self control in a negative light – something necessary but distasteful. It is important to understand the positive outcomes from you exercising your self control. One is that you can trust yourself and others will trust you because they realize that you won’t act contrary to what is good. Self control is listed in Galatians (5:22) as one of the fruits of the Spirit… against such there is no law.
