Self Control at Forge

5 men rolled into Grits N Greens for a meal and a short study on self-control. Proverbs 25:28 says Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.” I asked each man  what would they do if someone came into the restaurant and slapped them across the face. How would you handle that when you were 20? How would you handle that if your family was sitting there? How would you handle that if you were sitting in a church service? Would you have any self-control to “turn the other cheek” as the scriptures ask us to do. I am sure most of us aren’t where we need to be as far as 100% self-control but we should be striving to get better each day. Self-Control is a very broad subject but a very personal one. We each are faced daily with decisions that test our self-control. A Focus on The Family article said this, Self-Control is the discipline of saying “no” for the sake of a bigger and better “yes”. We discussed a few of the areas that require self-control. Overeating, greed, gossip, lust, anger, materialistic and pride. We discussed what we gain when we have self-control, not what we lose for each item on this list

How do we improve our self-control? The end of Galatians 5:25 says “let us keep in step with the Spirit”. I believe attending church regularly is one of the best ways to “keep in step with the Spirit” as I have seen this work many times in my own life when I was straying away from areas of self-control. We can improve self-control also by keeping company with people who exhibit it. I remember what Moses (our F3 Moses, not the Old Testament one) said when he began coming to Forge. He said he thought he needed some better friends. That is an excellent recognition of someone striving to be better. Do you need better friends? Are you improving your friends or are they influencing you in a negative way? I told of a friend of mine who I have seen in several situations keep his mouth shut and his anger inside when I would’ve not been so inclined. He knew to “keep in step with the Spirit” in a way that amazed me. We should all be striving to have that kind of self-control in all situations. You don’t want to be known for the one time in your life when you lost control. Our F3 brothers can help inspire us and help us keep in step with our self-control  if we stay plugged in to the group and keep posting.

Thanks to the men who came out and if you don’t have a place to be each Wednesday at 6:30 pm, give Forge a try. We will begin next week studying different men from the Bible. Our F3 Moses will discuss Gideon. Freight wanted me to tell everyone (especially Roscoe) that Sparky had strawberry cobbler with ice cream.