Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled.
Summary: Young men have their challenges. Separating the spirit from the flesh helps gain perspective on things like cars and testosterone.
Please take note: We are doing a whole verse and a complete sentence for our meditation today! 🙂
Paul begins by saying, “similarly.” Some translations use “likewise.” What I hear him saying is, “In the same way that you urge the young women to be self-controlled, encourage the young men to be self-controlled.”
Paul doesn’t play favorites. Everyone needs to be self-controlled. Young men, in particular, have a unique challenge.
When I was in high school, my dad came home one evening with a rental car. I don’t know why he had rented the car, but it was a cool car. Our family was never one to have a new car, so seeing dad drive up in one was a thrill. What was even more of a thrill was the fact that he tossed me the keys and let me take it for a ride.
The year was 1972, and the car was a brand new Olds Cutlass convertible. It had a beautiful brown metallic paint job and far more horsepower than it needed. The top was down, the sky was clear, and it was the tail end of a warm summer day when I waved goodbye and drove off to go for a joyride.
Horsepower and testosterone have a lot in common. The ride can be exciting, but it is really easy to get in trouble. Fortunately, that summer evening drive ended well for both the car and me. Nobody died, and nobody cried. I was all smiles when I drove back into the driveway. Yet, it might have ended differently.
The car was a rear-wheel-drive with a big block V-8 engine. I had never driven that much horsepower before. I remember the sensation of floating every time I punched the gas just a little. The back end of the car lifted off of the ground and gently floated back and forth as the tires spun faster than the car could accelerate.
Being a teenager hopped up on testosterone is a bit like that car. It doesn’t take much to get it over-excited. At a young age, there are a lot of ways to get in trouble, and many of them can be life changing. Driving a high-powered car can be fun, but the trick is to maintain control. If the person behind the wheel is not in control of themselves, the car certainly won’t be.
Self-control is realizing you have a self. Your self is not the same as your body, and your body is not the same as your car. They might all feel like they are one and the same sometimes, but the reality is that feelings can lie.
Encourage young men to be self-controlled. Whether they are running a car or running their mouth, they need to remember that they are in control.
Application: Who is in control in your life? The spiritual self or the flesh?
Food for Thought: How do you keep from stomping the gas pedal of your life at the wrong time?
Self-control is the ability to have the inner strength to control one’s desires, actions, behavior, and speech.
The natural person or man does not have this strength. It is only by yielding to the power of the Holy Spirit that such help or strength can be found. The idea here is the ability to hold in or be in control or our responses.
Some of this comes with maturity, wisdom, habit patterns, training and discipline.
Areas of concern for many young people, or people of any age for that matter, but especially younger men are control of the tongue, (anger, inappropriate speech, ill considered words. or improper timing, attitude, tone, or demeanor), impure thoughts or lustful behavior and or actions or inappropriate advances in social relationships),
Testosterone can be a powerful force to accomplish both good or evil.
It is important to remain under the Lord’s control through the power of the Spirit. Ephesians 5: 18.
The book of James talks about the power and necessity of tongue control, wisdom and prudence, control of desires, submission to God, proper and improper attitudes, and committing ourselves to purity and the practice of prayer and good deeds Chapters 3-4).
I look forward to others sharing about control and regulation of the gas pedal and use of the brakes in our lives. I am certain that many more profound thoughts, ideas, and scriptures can and possibly will be shared on this topic.
Take Care, and Be Blessed by the Lord as you follow Him.
Jeff,
A “yield” sign is unique in the world of traffic signage. It is a three sided triangle. When you point us to yielding to the Holy Spirit you point us to a yield sign that represents God’s three faces: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Yielding to the power and guidance of the Spirit is, as you say, our source of strength. It is also our guide. Thank you!
If we let Christ drive the car then we have self control because He is in control. It is not easy to submit to Christ in everything, but it is a worthy goal and something to be intentional about. James 4: 7 – 10.
Rich,
James 4:7-10 is a great passage for today’s topic. Thank you!
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” (KJV)
My goodness Jeff,..you certianly know how to get a motor running,..
Gotta say thanks to Jeff Hansen for his reply,..
Yes as a youngster being molested my testosterone has been misplaced or misused I guess you could say,..even still today I have my bouts with the flesh,..it hasn’t been an easy road to travel,..but travel I do,..I am certainly grateful for the road Christ has me on,..not sure of the purpose but it gets clearer with every mile on the road,..I am glad I have a rear view mirror to look in at times to see where God has taken me from,..tears,..shame,..regret,..guilt,..you name it,..that’s what I see in the mirrior,..that’s what I have to deal with,..but then when I have time and stop and can actually look into the mirror and see Who is really there,..Jesus,..when I look in my eyes I know He is with me and has been with me through it all,..so I look forward more now knowing that He is right here with me wherever I go,..
When I look out on the road of life I still see a limitless amount of opportunity on the horizon,..I have a different way of looking at things now through the lens of Christ,..but I am still who He created me to be and thankful that He gave me self discipline to ask for the forgiveness of His cleansing power through rightousness,..
He has set me free in more ways than one and I really can feel the horse power from the Holy Spirit when I step on the gas pedal of life,..because I have found out that success in Christ demands more action,..that’s what I intend to do,.. is take more action with His principles and promises for my life,..one mile at a time,..
Thanks again,..
John,
Thank you for your response this morning. Your words are inspiring! 🙂
How do you keep from stomping the gas pedal of your life at the wrong time?
The concept of self-control in the Bible is one that can easily be misunderstood. We know it is one of the fruits of the Spirit, but SELF somehow misdirects a new believer, possibly even an old believer regarding our appropriate role in terms of control. We can easily view this as an act of physical resistance to sin on our part and overlook the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. In reality, biblical self-control, by its very nature, includes the idea of God being part of the picture. Many of us continue to cross back into old patterns of sin because we have not allowed the Holy Spirit to help us make choices that lead to godliness.
The foundation of our choice is knowing “self- control” is our act of choosing to allow the Holy Spirit to fill us, empower us, and lead us into godliness. Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit that allows us to stop giving control of our lives to actions leading to destruction, and give control of our lives to the Holy Spirit who leads us into Godly behavior. Walk by the Spirit, and we will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Faithfully attend church services, prayer meetings, bible studies, and submitting to the leading of the Holy Spirit in every aspect of our lives leaves no time or desire to return to our old ways of allowing our desires of flesh to direct us.
Galatians 5:16, Ephesians 5:15-21, Romans 8:9, 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
Ron,
You make a great point and bring us back to the foot of the cross. Submitting to God’s Spirit is submitting to his Son, Jesus.
— John 16: 12-15
Great verses, we must make ourselves weak so our God will Bless each as He makes us strong and our lives glorify Him. What wonderful life we have.
Blessings Brother!
Ron