We ended the last devotional acknowledging that before we look at what biblical self-control tangibly looks like in a follower of Christ, we must first understand that the source of self-control is not human effort but rather God's Spirit given to us through grace (Titus 2:11-12, 2 Timothy 1:7).

Many confuse the Biblical calling to walk by the Spirit of self-control as a command to just try harder and simply do better. But if that were all it took to live a self-controlled life, why would Jesus have come in the first place? Think bout it. If the try harder, do better method worked, wouldn't the Israelites have succeeded in perfectly upholding the law of Moses?

Scripture teaches that the Old Law was given for three primary reasons.

Firstly, the  Old Law  was given to teach humanity about sin and humanity's natural tendency to lean toward sin, for "through the law we become conscious of our sin" (Romans 3:20).

Secondly, the Old Law acted as a guardian, guiding us amidst our sin tendency until a better and more permanent solution to our sin was revealed. In other words, "the law was our guardian until Christ came..." (Galatians 3:24). A system that demanded perfect obedience from man was never intended to be the permanent solution to sin. In fact, its purpose was to point out humanity's inability to ever maintain perfect obedience.

Thirdly, the Old Law demonstrated that due to our inability to maintain perfect obedience, we were in desperate need of a Savior. As the second half of Galatians 3:24 points out, the law was our guardian "until Christ came that we might be justified by faith." Not justified by OUR obedience, but justified in placing our faith in the perfect obedience of Christ. He fulfilled what we were never able to fulfill: perfect covenantal obedience.

And how did Christ maintain perfect obedience at all times? Well, what better place to look than when Jesus was being led into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan Himself to sin. John made it clear that Jesus was "full of the Holy Spirit"  while faithfully enduring through temptation with perfect obedience. He relied on the Holy Spirit in Him to utilize self-control and overcome every temptation without sin.

This leads us back to Paul's call on the Christian in Galatians 5 to walk by the fruit of the Spirit of self-control. How could we ever maintain perfect obedience of our own? We can't. But Christ did. And the same Holy Spirit that dwelt in Him and led him to recall Scripture and say no to sin, dwells inside of those who sincerely place their faith in the perfect obedience of Christ. We can rest in the perfect obedience of Christ, knowing that when we stumble, His blood cleanses us. But also, we can rest knowing that we walk by the guidance of the Spirit who leads us towards obedience in self-control, tuning our hearts and minds towards God's Word.

Next week we will look at what it tangibly looks like for a follower of Christ to lead a life of self-control in the Spirit.