Tuesday, November 19​

The fruitage of the spirit is . . . self-control.

—Gal. 5:22, 23.
​

Self-control is a godly quality. Jehovah possesses self-control in perfect measure. Humans, however, are imperfect and therefore struggle to maintain self-control. Indeed, many of the problems that people face today stem from a lack of self-control. That lack may result in procrastination and underperformance in school or at work. It may also lead to verbal abuse, drunkenness, violence, divorce, needless debt, addiction, imprisonment, emotional trauma, sexually transmitted disease, and unwanted pregnancy, to name a few. (Ps. 34:11-14) And the problem of lacking self-control is worsening. Self-discipline was studied in the 1940’s, but recent studies have shown that people have become much worse at exercising self-discipline. This is no surprise to students of God’s Word because the Bible foretold that one evidence that we are living in “the last days” is that men would be “without self-control.”—2 Tim. 3:1-3.

w17.09 3 ¶1-2​