Self Control..............the all too often forgot about Fruit

This is going to be short and sweet this week!

Many times I feel like people focus on the ends and not the means. I want to retire. I want to lose weight. I want a clean house. I want a successful career. I want.....I want....I want..............

But how often are people willing to do what it takes to get to what they want? I mean do you really want to eat less, eat healthier food, have to cook and eat at home more, exercise 4-6 hours a week....do you really want to lose weight?

For me I started thinking about when I was in high school and I had a list of things that I didn't do that defined my "Christianity." I didn't drink, I didn't smoke cigarettes, I didn't cuss (too often), I didn't.................hmm wait a minute, I didn't pray that much, I didn't share Christ's love that much. I didn't do a lot of things. But there was this one thing, this one tiny thing I Kept in my closet, all to myself, and I didn't want anyone else to know. What my girlfriend and I did behind closed doors, that was my best kept secret. No one could find out I was struggling with giving into temptation, they might think I was a bad "Christian."

As an adult I look back and it wasn't about what I did or didn't do with my girlfriend in high school. One could say, well when I get married I can do the same things and then it will be okay so I will be okay. But that's not true. What I was doing in high school was about self-control, not about premarital sex. Self-control? Yeah. Think about it. How do I stay healthy? I have to have self-control to eat less. How do I stay faithful in my marriage? I have to have self-control to not lust. How do I become a good steward of my finances? I have to have self-control in my consumption.

I was fooled into thinking it was about sex. But it wasn't. It was and is about self-control. Getting married didn't give me self-control. Don't lie to yourself and think that it is about what you do and don't do. What it is about is your fruit. Is the way you live your life fruitful? Matthew 12:33...........“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.

What kind of fruit do you have hanging from your limbs?