In the city of Self Control, you are the governor

THIS is good stuff. . . take a look with me:
In Acts 22.24-31, Paul cleverly establishes that he is a Roman citizen, and he is brought before the Sanhedrin, (the Jewish ruling council) for trial~
Acts 23.1-10 - Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, "My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day." At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!" Those who were standing near Paul said, "You dare to insult God's high priest?" Paul replied, "Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: 'Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.'" Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, "My brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. I stand on trial because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead." When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.) There was a great uproar, and some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up and argued vigorously. "We find nothing wrong with this man," they said. "What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?" The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them. He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks.

Good Morning.

Wow, take a look at how Paul starts out-- "I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day." There have been times in my life that I have made a knowing decision to over-rule my conscience, and do the wrong thing. . . but not Paul. Twice in Acts, and 21 times in his letters to the churches, Paul makes such a statement. This claim infuriated Ananias instantly, and he ordered Paul to be punched in the mouth. To which, Paul was equally incensed, and he shot back at the high priest with an insult that went straight to the point, calling Ananias a hypocrite--'you whitewashed wall'. (It was customary to paint the gravestones white, in an attempt to cover over death and destruction contained beneath.) Yesterday, I commented that Paul was a 'quick thinker'--well, today we see that his thinker got the better of restraint. Here is where the similarities of Jesus accused and at trial parts with Paul accused and at trial. Jesus remained silent, and Paul struck back.

Paul had earlier written to the church at Galatia about the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which should be evident in a believer's life. What are the fruits of the Spirit? (Galatians 5.22,23) Most people can name the popular ones: love, joy, peace, patience. . . but the last one listed, maybe because it is the most difficult, is self control. The Greek word for self-control is enkrateia, which means "to have power over oneself" and thus be able to hold oneself in. Ooh, that is good. Paul did not 'hold himself in', and the angry insult he hurled at Ananias did him no good at all.

Not long after Paul penned the letter to Galatia, he wrote to the church at Ephesus, and told them,
"Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth,
but only what is good for building others up, that it may benefit those who listen." Ephesians 4.29
This is a verse I had taped to my refrigerator for years--it is a verse to memorize, and another arrow for your quiver. Paul's words may have been true, but they benefitted no one, least of all him. Remember that one of the attributes of wisdom is prudence; we are wise when we are prudent with our words. Self-control is encompassed in prudent discernment. Paul went on to discuss how Christians are to exercise self-control like the Greek athletes, when he wrote to the church at Corinth. "Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable" (1 Corinthians 9:25). “A person without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls." Proverbs 25:28

Now, you might say this is a little harsh, given Paul's circumstances, but. . . he might have been more prudent even so had he thought about what he was going to be up against. See, we often know we're walking into a 'hornet's nest' or at least a challenging situation; we would do well to ask God for wisdom ahead of time, that we might be prudent. It helps me to remember, too, that "When words are many, sin is not absent..." Proverbs 10.19. Then there's this nugget from Ecclesiastes: "Let my words be few." (5.2)

"Being self-controlled requires being able to check yourself before you go too far... We were created with a whole passel of passions. But they need managing. As Lewis Smedes once said, self-control is like the conductor of a symphony orchestra. Under the conductor's baton are a multitude of talented musicians, each of whom is needed to make a contribution. But they need to sound the right notes at the right time at the right volume for things to sound lovely. If the trumpeter blared constantly, we'd never have the chance to hear the hauntingly sweet loveliness of a violin arpeggio. The percussion section sometimes needs to be idle so that when the timpani does blaze forth, it's that much more dramatic. Similarly all the passions, appetites, lusts, and desires God has given have their proper place. Self-control is the Holy Spirit's baton in our hearts under whose skilled spiritual direction everything stays in its proper place and comes in at the proper times. As with learning a language (or to stick with the orchestra simile, as with learning how to play a musical instrument), self-control takes practice." unnamed source

Benjamin Franklin was right when he said, “He is a governor that governs his passions, and he is a servant that serves them.”
Be a good governor,
Christine