Devotional for March 31

“Giving all diligence, add to your faith….temperance [self-control]“ (II Peter 1:5-6).

The Christian life is not about finding all the grace we need at the beginning and then cruising from there to the finish line. Peter reminds us that key additions are to be made along the way. It is God’s plan that our character be marked by growth and progress. To our initial faith, the virtues of knowledge, patience, kindness, charity, and self-control are to be constantly added.

The Christian is in constant danger of relaxing and regressing. This is why we are called to diligence. We may lose our first love instead of adding to it. We may lapse into a state of self-indulgence rather than developing self-control.

The cure for this kind of subtraction is constant addition. No one stays in a state of neutrality in regards to Christian character. We are going forward, or we are going backward. We are progressing, or we are regressing. We are adding, or we are subtracting.

While rising this morning, I became aware that I stand in need of more self-control. These words came clearly to mind, “Add to your faith…self-control”. It is time for me to rise up and meet the challenge of what St. Paul described as “keeping under my body and bringing it into subjection” (I Corinthians 9:27). Adding more self-control to my life will look something like this.

• I will talk less and listen more.
• I will read less and meditate more.
• I will eat less and fast more.
• I will surf the web less and exercise more.
• I will work less and pray more.

What would the addition of more self-control look like in your life?