Jamie spoke about self-control last week, and it changed my whole view of it. Basically, self-control is not just restraint. It is much more than that. Self-control is willing yourself to go out of your comfort zone. Think about it! How easy is it to stay in your little bubble doing what you've always done? Jesus, however, doesn't call us to stay in our comfort zone. He never stayed in a place I would have called comfortable. We are to go outside of ourselves and love others, just as Jesus did. The best part about this is, God will provide opportunities for you to do this. He's not going to make you look far for them. Most of the time, He'll hit you over the head with them. Have you ever looked at someone's life and thought, "man, they are really living an adventurous life for Christ?" Ten bucks says it is because they take advantage of those opportunities.
You guys might be wondering why I called this post "Risky Self-Control." Or maybe you're not, but bear with me anyways. If you know me well enough, then you know this about me. If you don't know me that well, I'm going to tell you right now. I like risks. Or at least I think I do. I guess it's safer to say I like controlled risks. Risks in which I may have some control over the situation or the outcome. Risks which in some way, shape, or form have always been part of my life plan. Travel to Europe by myself? That's risky. Risky enough that I had planned on doing it since I was a kid. Go cliff jumping? Only if I know there aren't rocks and the water is deep enough. Calculated risks. I calculate every risk so much that I might not take them. If it wasn't in the plan or I'm not sure everything will be fine, I don't do it.
What kind of life is that to live? I was listening to K-Love the other night and they threw out this statistic about doing life again. I don't remember the exact number, but is was basically that a ton of people in their 80's and 90's said that if they could do life over again, the one thing they would do differently is take more risks. Well heck, why don't we take their advice? Let us all self-control ourselves to go out of our comfort zones and take risks! See someone that needs help but it would be easy to pass them by? Take the risk of going out of your comfort zone and help them. Love people! Don't think about it, just do it. Exercise self-control and do what Jesus did. Here is where the worry comes in. We love control. We all want to control our lives. It is our sinful nature. But that is a whole different blog post.
To finish this one up, let's all look at our lives. I know I have opportunities in my life that God has placed there. I also know that in an effort to live an awesome life for Christ I go looking for situations to put myself in where I can love people. Those never seem to work. Oswalt Chambers said, "We have no right to decide where we should be placed, or to have preconceived ideas as to what God is preparing us to do. God engineers everything; and wherever He places us, our one supreme goal should be to pour out our lives in wholehearted devotion to Him in that particular work." God will put us in situations where we are able to serve Him by loving people. And we are just to self-control ourselves to go into those situations and love people. Take risks to follow God. He will provide.
You guys might be wondering why I called this post "Risky Self-Control." Or maybe you're not, but bear with me anyways. If you know me well enough, then you know this about me. If you don't know me that well, I'm going to tell you right now. I like risks. Or at least I think I do. I guess it's safer to say I like controlled risks. Risks in which I may have some control over the situation or the outcome. Risks which in some way, shape, or form have always been part of my life plan. Travel to Europe by myself? That's risky. Risky enough that I had planned on doing it since I was a kid. Go cliff jumping? Only if I know there aren't rocks and the water is deep enough. Calculated risks. I calculate every risk so much that I might not take them. If it wasn't in the plan or I'm not sure everything will be fine, I don't do it.
What kind of life is that to live? I was listening to K-Love the other night and they threw out this statistic about doing life again. I don't remember the exact number, but is was basically that a ton of people in their 80's and 90's said that if they could do life over again, the one thing they would do differently is take more risks. Well heck, why don't we take their advice? Let us all self-control ourselves to go out of our comfort zones and take risks! See someone that needs help but it would be easy to pass them by? Take the risk of going out of your comfort zone and help them. Love people! Don't think about it, just do it. Exercise self-control and do what Jesus did. Here is where the worry comes in. We love control. We all want to control our lives. It is our sinful nature. But that is a whole different blog post.
To finish this one up, let's all look at our lives. I know I have opportunities in my life that God has placed there. I also know that in an effort to live an awesome life for Christ I go looking for situations to put myself in where I can love people. Those never seem to work. Oswalt Chambers said, "We have no right to decide where we should be placed, or to have preconceived ideas as to what God is preparing us to do. God engineers everything; and wherever He places us, our one supreme goal should be to pour out our lives in wholehearted devotion to Him in that particular work." God will put us in situations where we are able to serve Him by loving people. And we are just to self-control ourselves to go into those situations and love people. Take risks to follow God. He will provide.
