The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1961-11-17
Self : Control
Lesson for November 10, 1861

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Lesson for November 10, 1861
A young man was about to be
dismissed from college, not for
any particular rule that he had
broken, but for general worth
leSSneSS His mother could not
understand it. She wrote letters,
she sent kilograms, she tied the
dean up in her telephone mono
logues. So finally the dean invit-
ed her up for a conference with
all concerned. There they all sat,
the boy himself and his mother,
several of his teachers. the
cream of his fraternity brothers,
the athletic coach, even the
president of the college. Every
body told about what they had
done for the boy, how they had
tried to urge him on, stimulate
his ambition, see that he studied.
and so forth. Everybody seemed
to be steamed up over the case
except the boy himself, who sat
through it all like a lump Of
putty. Finally the president had
to ask him: well. you have
heard what every one else has
done. Isn't it time you did some
thing for YOURSELF"
Imperatives
That is a true story, but it is
also a parable of the Christian
life. God will not do everything
for you. He does a great deal,
He has gone to infinite pains for
your benefit. His Spirit comes to
make a home in you. Yet the
Holy Spirit will never do for you
what you might do for yourself
the Holy Spirit is not a substitute
for your own will-power. The
New Testament is filled with JOY
full testimony to what God has
done for us, but it also very often
gives us commands. The Holy
Spirit will no more take our tests
than that poor indulgent mother
could pass her shiftless sons ex-
aminations for him. Make every
effort" Peter says q Peter 1:5)
to build up all the elements Of a
strong Christian character.
Self-Control Needed
No part of the New Testament
suffers more from awkward ex-
pressions in the 1911 translation
the king James") than this
great passage in 2 Peter. Among
other things, one of the key
words is tucked out of sight by
a wrong translation. In verse six
it is not Temperance" Peter
means; the Greek word means
literally self-control, a stronger
word by far than temperance.
1t means holding yourself in, not
living like a child that says and
does whatever suits him at the
moment. 1t means not getting
angry when you feel anger (if
you catch the difference It
means keeping on with a job If
it has to be done, no matter
whether you feel like it or not.
It means, in short, not letting
yourself get away from yourself.
A car that goes "out of control"
cannot be steered. A life out Of
control is not going to listen to
reason. there is no steering it.
A life of faith, virtue and
knowledge would be a good life,
would it not? Yes, but Saint
Peter sees something else need
ed. Faith, virtue and knowledge
need to be supplemented by self
control. A life without this is like
a fine car without a driver.
Completion
On the other hand, in this de-
scripion of the ideal Christian
life, the last word is not self-con-
troll. We may have met people
who were long on self-control but
short on influence, because they
were so intent $50 to speak,
on holding themselves in, hold
ing themselves down. that they
forgot to shine. Steadfastness
'dogged PERSISTENCE. goodness,
Peters word means reverence,
a sense of the Presence of Cod j.,
brotherly affection and love, all
are needed to complete self-con-
troll. The good life, you see, is
not one single good quality off
by itself. People will pick out
some ones virtue and they will
rate other people as good" or
bad depending on how they
stack up against this one single
yardstick of comparison. Well,
history is filled with warnings at
this point. Don't rate somebody
high just because he has one out
standing good trait. The emperor
Nero was generous with his
friends and he loved music.
Genghis Khan. who laid his world
waste, was a man who knew no
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