Self Control

I'm sitting here this morning eating a small bowl of fruit. I want and need to lose some weight, so I am planning to eat well. I did the same yesterday, a breakfast of melon. I had lunch with our Community Care folk (those who visit area nursing homes on a weekly basis) who, following my beef lunch (with vegetables), had a lovely cake in honor of my wife and me. At night I had to cook for my boys as my wife and daughter had a Corps (Church) event so I grilled chicken and made some peas, corn and instant potatos...and then doused the chicken with barbecue sauce. Then for supper I ate some chips and cheese and quite a few liquorish all-sorts. It's the oddest of things...I completely forgot that I was trying to eat well! Is my desire to eat greater than my desire to be healthy? Do I lack that all important spiritual gift of self-control? Am I trying to make myself feel better by gouging?

At the end of the day, I think my problem comes down to bad habits. It is a habit that I need to break by simply eating well over a long period, until eating well becomes my habit.

Dictionary.com defines a habit as, "an acquired behavior pattern followed until it has become almost involuntary". A good for instance might be brushing my teeth. My habit tells me to brush them before I go to bed. My habit means that I naturally put the toothpaste on the brush, that I run the water and that I scrub my teeth. My habit also allows a natural pattern of brushing. Habits are a wonderful tool, and a great gift...unless they are bad habits.

Proverbs 25:28 says, "Like a City whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control" (NIV)

The Spiritual gift of self-control, therefore, seems to be an all or nothing. Either I have it or I don't, and if I don't I am opening myself up to all kinds of invasion by Satan and his lies. Therefore, I must spend more time in God's word, I must spend more time in prayer, and I must be very deliberate in every area of my life so that I build the wall of protection around me and not allow anything in that will damage me either physically or spiritually.