Have you ever felt like taking out your anger on the ones around you? How do you react when you get an unexpected bad grade? Do you find yourself furiously blaming your teacher for the bad mark? These may be a sign that your self-control has room for improvement. As defined, ‘Self-control is the ability to control the actions you take in your daily life and the decisions you make.’

In the book ‘Trusting God Day by Day’ by Joyce Meyers, she has dedicated one of her 365 Daily Devotions about trusting God too self-control which I found very thought-provoking. Here is the quote Joyce started off with:

‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.’ Galatians 5:22-23 NIV.

According to Joyce’s devotion, we usually try to control our circumstances or others around us. I think we could all relate to that. Sometimes I try to control people around me, because I want things to work out my way so that everything goes ‘perfectly’. By doing this, I realize that people respond differently than I thought. One could refer to you as bossy if you try to take control of things! Sometimes it could be good to take leadership! But don’t confuse that with self-control because, it could be unpleasant and therefore won’t work out!

I, and you too, may know how it feels like to be controlled or manipulated! I have had many bossy friends trying to control me! I know sometimes they mean well, but sometimes their actions can get into my nerves or can be annoying!! The thing is, self control is more about our attitudes towards others’ actions. I cannot control my friends’ actions but I can control how I react toward their actions or my actions.

God has supplied us with wonderful tools that He desires we use to control ourselves instead of trying to control people and things. ‘He has given us His word, His Holy Spirit, and a wide variety of good fruit that we can develop.’ (Joyce Meyers). If you have a tendency to wanting to control the people and circumstances in your life (don’t be embarrassed to admit it), then I strongly suggest that you give it up and turn your focus on developing your self-control. I like the quote in this google picture:

It may be hard to learn to control yourself, and require a lot of patience and endurance, but it will be worth it in the end! I assure you. You don’t have to control people around you! God makes things happen in the world for a reason! So start controlling yourself, and letting others handle themselves. I shall now end with a closing from Joyce’s book:

Trust in Him: When was the last time you tried to control someone else’s behaviour? Next time you’re tempted to do so, turn your focus onto developing your own self-control, and put your trust in God to change the other person if He wants to.

Venus Wambura.