MAY 27, Galatians 5:23

The ninth characteristic of the Fruit of the Spirit is temperance. This word means self-control. In other words, the ability to control yourself, or to hold yourself back from doing something that is not good.

For example, someone in class complained to the teacher you copied during the spelling test. And you know that was completely untrue. How would you react? Many of us would be angry, some of us will want to fight back, some of us will cry… If you have temperance, you will control yourself, and seek the will of the Lord by praying and asking God what is the best thing to do next. To non-Christians, the next thing to do is obvious – retaliate. But for us, that is not the way of temperance.

Dear reader, when you are tempted to do wrong, what should you do? Pray for strength to control yourself not to do it.

Fill in the following words in the white spaces:

Thought: I don’t have to give in to sin.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, teach me to have temperance in my daily life. I know it is so easy to be angry but teach me to look to You for help and help me to control myself so I can have temperance. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.