| The Beauty of Self Control |
Chapter 1 |
Page 6 |
How can we get the mastery over ourselves? It is not attained by a mere resolve. We cannot simply assert our self mastery and then have it. We cannot put self on the throne by a mere proclamation. It is an achievement which must be won by ourselves and won by degrees. It is a lesson which must be learned, a long lesson which it takes many days to learn. As Lowell says:
“Beauty and truth and all that these contain
Drop not like ripened fruit about our feet;
We climb to them through years of sweat and pain.”
We need divine help in learning the lesson. Yet we must be diligent in doing our part. God helps those who help themselves. When we strive to be calm and self controlled he puts his own strength into our heart. Then we shall find ourselves growing strong and gaining in self mastery. The attainment will come slowly.
But however long it may take us to reach this heavenly achievement we should never be content until we have reached it. This is the sum of all learning and experience. It is the completeness of all spiritual culture. The man in us is only part a man while we are not master of ourselves. We are in grave peril while any weak hour we may lose our kingliness and be cast down. It took Moses forty years to learn self control, and he did not learn it in the world’s universities; it was only when God was his teacher and his school was in the desert that he mastered it. Then in a sad, unwatched moment he lost his kingly power for an instant and spoke a few words unadvisedly, and failed and could not finish his work.
Think what the want of self control is costing men continually! One moment’s dropping of the reins and a wrong decision is made, a temptation is accepted, a battle is lost, and a splendid life lies in ruin. Let us achieve the grace of self control.
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