The Self-control Prayer

Self-control will help to keep you from needing to repent more, and self-control will help you to repent more quickly when you need to.

In this world, many good things start with repentance. Our sins mess with us, our sins make a mess. We need forgiveness before God and we need Him to cleanse our hearts, and from there we seek His help to deal with the mess our sins made.

It only takes moments of something—else-control to ruin the rest of your life, though most ruin or at least spoil their lives through little pinhole leaks of self-control.

What should you do? Repent.

Repent when the weeds—of lust or legalism—are small. Repent as soon as you see you need to, before the concrete hardens. Repent for sake of the rope around the neck of your soul. Repent for sake of your example.

It takes a measure of self-control even to see that you don’t have enough self-control. It takes self-control to deal honestly with the things that defile you from within you (Mark 7:!5), not looking to blame others, or even assume you’re better than them.

Of course two people in a given scenario may need to repent unto self-control and good works. It might be a family project, a whole nation that needs revival. But self-control knows it can’t make someone else repent, and self-control knows it is supposed to go first.

A twist on the prayer for serenity: God, grant me the self-control to repent of my sin, the self-control not to sin when others aren’t repenting, and the courage to repent regardless and be different.