Self-Control

As the hard-fought Little League game was underway, the coach paused to say to one of his players, “Do you understand what cooperation is? What a team is?” The little boy nodded yes.

“Do you understand that what matters is whether we win together as a team?” The little boy nodded yes.

“So,” the coach continued, “when a strike is called, or you are out at first, you don’t argue or curse or attack the umpire. Do you understand all that?” Again, the boy nodded yes.

“Good,” said the coach. “Now go over there and explain it to your mother.”

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Self-Control

Hudson Taylor, dressed in a Chinese costume, while waiting for a boatman to take him across the river, stood on a jetty. Presently a richly dressed Chinaman came and also stood waiting. When the boat drew near this man not seeing that Mr. Taylor was a foreigner, struck him on the head and knocked him over into the mud. Mr. Taylor said the feeling came to him to smite the man, but God immediately stopped him. When the boat came up, the Chinaman looked at Mr. Taylor and recognized him as a foreigner. He could hardly believe it, and said, “What! You a foreigner, and did not strike me back when I struck you like that?” Mr. Taylor said: “This boat is mine. Come in and I will take you where you want to go.” On the way out, Mr. Taylor poured into that Chinaman’s’ ears the message of salvation. He left the man with tears running down his face. Such is the power of the Gospel of Christ.

-From The King’s Business

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Self-Control

Robert C. Shannon

Traveling north along Virginia’s eastern shore one passes through villages with
practical names like Oyster and Birdnest, and through villages with Indian
names like Nassawadox and Pungoteague. Then just south of the Maryland line one
comes to the village of Temperanceville. Predictably, it’s a very small town,
for of all the virtue listed in II Peter chapter One (faith, goodness,
patience, godliness, brotherly kindness) the least popular is temperance —
self-control.

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Self-Control

Robert C. Shannon

When words from another language are translated into English, we often say that
something is lost in the translation. There was evidence of that in an
information booklet in a Japanese hotel. Explaining the air conditioning system
the booklet said, (with some creative spelling) “Cooles and Heates: If you
want just condition of warm in your room please control yourself.”

Certainly, you ought to control yourself, even if you are not in a Japanese hotel
room. It is frightening to see a person get out of control. And self-control is
listed among the virtues all believers should possess (II Peter 1:5-7).

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