BEING SELF-CONTROLLED IN AN OUT OF CONTROLLED WORLD: I Thessalonians 5:8

I'm a Laker fan so I of course love Kobe Bryant as a player. Kobe like Michael Jordan before him and many other great players has an ability to focus their energy and play within the moment. John Wooden, the later great UCLA basketball coach would tell his players to be quick but never in a hurry. Be self-controlled. As Christians we are told to be self-controlled.  

"But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet." I Thessalonians 5:8

I think it is instructive to notice that because we belong to the day - belong to God in Christ - we are to be self-controlled. Paul is reminding the Thessalonians that living as a Christian is not some hyper-spiritual state of being where you are carried away by the Spirit and you no longer think and choose. The world we live in deceptively tells people that they have no choice emotionally about their passions. Think about it. How you ever heard someone say, "Men are dogs"? Men are led to believe (and I have heard this from church pulpits my whole life, not just the world) that they will lust and that is just part of being a male. Evolution has placed in men a desire to procreate and it is uncontrollable. Is this Biblical? NO! The Bible tells men to choose, to run, from the immoral woman (see Proverbs). Men are not animals. We are created in the image of God. 

Do you get my point? My point is that here in Thessalonians the Apostle Paul is telling us to be self-controlled. Faith in God and the love of Christ, for us and in us, along with the hope of salvation are the guideposts of our choices. My wife has a note on the refrigerator  called "The Three Sieves Test". Before saying something you are supposed to ask, "Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?" What is your sieve test for choosing? Is it by faith? Is it in love? Does it bring the hope of salvation? 

The bottom line is that as Christians we have a very different guide post than the world. For the world it is simply what I feel will make me feel good. Which, never works out. As Christians we act by faith that God is Sovereign and his love will work all things for our good. We act in love because he first loved us, though we don't deserve his love. We look for salvation and to bring the redemptive reconciling work of the Spirit of God into all of our lives. This always works out. 

Father, help us to be self-controlled, choosing to live by faith, act in love and share your salvation. Praise be to you in us today!