God did not give us a spirit that makes us afraid but a
spirit of power and love and self-control (NCV, 2 Timothy 1:7).
Galatians 5:22,23 lists the fruit of the Spirit, which
includes self-control [12]. The term self-control may be misleading, since it is hardly self that does the
controlling. In fact, self being in
control is a lie. The self is
controlled either by the infilling and empowering of the Holy Spirit, or it is
controlled by whatever spirit happens to be strongest in us on any
given occasion.
In 2 Timothy, Paul writes to his protégé, telling Timothy he
must never let fear deter him from sharing the gospel. It’s easy to make
decisions out of fear: fear of what might happen to us if we pursue a certain
path, or fear of what people around us will think. In those cases we are
playing to the wrong audience. It doesn’t matter what people think; the only
opinion that really counts is God’s.
A battle rages for control of self. The spirit of fear opposes the spirit of power, love and
self-control and wants to run the show. But self-control means fear doesn’t get
to tell us what to do anymore. In other contexts self-control means anger
doesn’t get to tell us what to do, or lust doesn’t get to tell us what to do.
Those things no longer control self; now
the Spirit is in control.
TODAY’S MEDITATION
Either the Spirit calls the
shots, or fear does. What does it mean to you to say, “Fear doesn’t get to tell
me what to do anymore”?
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