This month, with self-control being our virtue, Orange has attached the game controller as THE object lesson. Have you noticed? I love the whole game theme. If we point it out with our kids, it could become a natural object lesson for our families multiple times a day. When you see the pause button on the controller, remember to pause when you feel anger start to build up. When you press the power button, remember the Holy Spirit Who gives us the power to control ourselves.
I pose a Challenge for us as families: every time anyone touches the TV or game controller, say the verse for this month. Can you say it? James 1:19 – “My dear brothers & sisters, pay attention to what I say. Everyone should be quick to listen. But slow to speak. Everyone should be slow to get angry.” Why not challenge your whole family: every time anyone touches a controller, they must say the verse out loud. This will give everyone an automatic way of reviewing and engrafting God’s Word into your heart as a family.
When Satan tempted Jesus, He overcame with verses that were locked into His heart. Do you have verses locked into your heart? That’s what we were talking about Wednesday night. We memorize, but we want to also meditate, engraft, lock verses in for life. Satan wants to literally kill you, your family, your kids. He wants to make sin attractive so we get lured into it. Your sin may start out looking innocent enough. Maybe we only hold bitterness against one person secretly. We just indulge in one off color show a week. Worry isn’t really a sin, is it?? We’re all pretty good at justifying ourselves (see Adam & Eve in Genesis 3:12 & 13). If we quench that twinge of guilt the Holy Spirit gives us over that, it’s easier to sin a little more. Before we know it, we’re trucking full steam ahead down the road to destruction if we don’t let the Holy Spirit pour self-control into us. We have to “do what we SHOULD do, not what we WANT to do,” even as adults. Instead of trusting our own opinions & thoughts, the wise person gets God’s perspective through daily feeding on God’s Word (Romans 12:2): read it, memorize it, meditate on it, engraft it, lock it in.
What are stumbling blocks in your life, areas you lack control over, things that Satan trips you up with over & over again? Maybe it’s losing your temper, or over eating, or secret lust, or gossiping, or not quite telling the truth. Whatever it is, take some time this month to search the Bible & find verses that fit just that situation. Write them out. I’ve typed mine out & put little pictures to them to cue me at times throughout the day. Post your list somewhere you have time to meditate on them; on the kitchen cupboards so you can think on them while doing dishes, or laminate them & put them by the bathroom mirror to study while you shave or do your hair in the morning. Whatever works!
Once we’re armed with the Word of God, we are then (& only then) equipped to fend off those attacks from Satan. That’s doing what you SHOULD do, not what you WANT to do. Let’s give our children a first-hand example of self-control this month. The Word of God & the Holy Spirit are the tools God gave us to successfully do this thing called self-control. Without it, we will be miserable & eventually destroyed – God knows that. So what’s controlling you?
