Fresh Fruit: Self-control

Fresh Fruit: Self-Control

Bible Blast: Read Proverbs 16:32

The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and SELF-CONTROL. There is no law against these things!

Galatians 5:22-23

Did you know that kids have less self-control today than they did in the 1940s? Waaaaayyyy back then, some experimenters asked girls about the age of seven to stand still for as long as possible. Almost all of them were able to stand still for as long as they wanted, while five-year-olds could only stand still for three minutes. In more recent years, some people re-created the experiment, and guess what? Seven-year-olds could only stand still for about three minutes, like the five-year-olds of the past. Today’s seven-year-olds don’t have as much self-control as kids that age once had. That’s not good!

Self-control helps us our whole lives. When I was in middle school, self-control helped me not to cheat on tests. (It would have been easier to cheat.) When I was in high school, self-control kept me from going to bad parties. (It would have been fun to go.) When I was in college, self-control kept me from dating way too many boys. (It was popular to date that way.) Now, self-control helps me to be a good mom and wife.

You can practice self-control today. You can sit quietly and wait for your mom when she’s taking too long to shop. You can wait until after dinner to eat those cookies. These opportunities build your self-control “muscle” for bigger things that will come your way.

People who give in to every single desire are not strong. If there’s a plate of cookies on my table, and every time I walk by I eat one, that’s weakness. A girl who has the ability to say no is a strong person. There’s a lot of power and strength in that little word no. When you say no to a desire that’s not God’s best for you, you’re saying that you’re not going to give in because you know that God has something better.

Girl Gab: Daughter, just for fun, while Mom is cooking dinner, let her time you to see how long you can stand still. Mom, tell your daughter one area where she is strong because she has self-control. Talk about it, and thank God together for helping her develop that self-control muscle.