Promises Producing Self-Control
I was recently on a long drive and was struggling to stay awake. I turned on a podcast to keep my mind engaged and my car between the lines. The episode was about self-control, focusing on the famous experiment that I’m sure we’ve all seen replicated online. In the original, children were given a marshmallow and then left alone but promised that if they could wait to eat the treat until the treat giver returned, they would be given another.
This experiment was conducted in the 70s and, over the decades that followed, those children’s lives were tracked, and the findings were astonishing. Those who exercised self-control as young children – waiting to eat the marshmallow in hopes of getting another – were significantly more likely to be living healthier, wealthier, more productive lives. The podcast concluded that some of us are more hard-wired for self-control than others and that wiring is causally responsible for health and success later in life.
Immediately, my mind went to Galatians 5:22-23, “The fruit of the Spirit is…self-control.” Is self-control from the Spirit or from biology?
Fortunately, for the sake of my driving and for the sake of my theological inquiry, the episode did not end there. More recently, additional research was done using this same experiment but, this time, the children were “primed” with experiences where promises were made and kept for some but broken for others.
Children that had experienced broken promises were less likely to wait to eat the first marshmallow. For them, self-control was not worth it because the promise of another marshmallow was unreliable. Conversely, those who had experienced a pattern of promises kept were more likely to wait to eat their marshmallow. They were confident that the promise of another would be fulfilled and so the self-control to refrain from eating the one in front of them was deemed worth it. Regardless of their wiring, knowing that the researcher's word could be trusted led to self-control in the face of temptation. Confidence in promises produced self-control.
In the same way, the Holy Spirit is not bound by our biology. The Holy Spirit shows us God’s trustworthiness, which becomes the foundation of our transformation. The Holy Spirit plants the promises of God’s word like seeds into our hearts giving us confidence in Him that blossoms into the fruit of self-control in our lives.
When my eyes are fixed on these promises, they produce self-control in me:
“He rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6)
“All things work together for good” (Romans 8:28)
“Godliness holds promise for the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8)
“The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:20)
The promise of the imperishable reward is worth our self-control (1 Corinthians 9:25)
When I cling to the hope found in these promises more than whatever I might hope to gain by yielding to my flesh in a moment of difficulty, self-control becomes the obvious choice. God’s promises give me the confidence that self-control is worth it, like a child who contentedly keeps himself from eating what’s in front of him because he knows something better is coming.
When my heart is rooted in God’s big promises, self-control is the fruit. And this is not my fruit, but the Spirit’s fruit because it is only by his work in me that I have the eyes to see the glory of the Lord that transforms me into his image (2 Corinthians 3:18).
~ Andy Barker grew up in Boston, Ma. and relocated to Charlotte in 2008. He currently serves as an elder at LIFE Fellowship. He and his wife Melanie have five children and have attended LIFE Fellowship for ten years.