Have you ever heard the saying “Get a grip?”  This is actually a Bible exhortation.  It is what the Greek word for temperance means and is really what it is all about—having a grip on our emotions and feelings, which allows us to dictate our behavior.  When our emotions are out of control, our actions usually reflect it, and our overall lives spiral out of control.  We are not surprised, then, to hear Peter tell us that self-control or temperance is one of the first things we should add to our faith after we obey the gospel.

2 Peter 1:5-6 (ESV)
⁵  For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, ⁶and knowledge with self-control…

Aristotle mentions three states of life.  “The state in which reason has been entirely subjugated to passion—that’s unbridled lust; the state in which reason fights but passion prevails—that’s incontinence; the state in which reason fights against passion and reason prevails—that’s temperance.”

It is this third state that Aristotle described that we should strive to maintain.  Paul did.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (ESV)
²⁴  Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. ²⁵  Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. ²⁶  So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. ²⁷  But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

We need to run the race of Christianity as if we were running in a physical race where only one person wins the prize.  This is why runners in physical races run so hard and give their all.  They know that they have to beat every other runner if they want the primary prize.

We know that in this spiritual race, more than one is going to get the prize; however, we need to run as if we were in a physical race.  That is Paul’s point.  We need to give our absolute best as if only one would receive the prize, and we want to be that one.

The one thing that most runners have in common in a physical race is the self-control to train and run hard.  Paul describes the rigid self-control that he employed to win the imperishable prize of heaven.  He always kept his body under control because he knew that was the only way he could win.  In the end, he had total confidence that he had won the race and would be rewarded with a crown of righteousness.

2 Timothy 4:7–8 (ESV)
⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.⁸ Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Are you living your life with the same self-control that Paul exercised?  If not, add it to your faith before it is too late, and start living your life with a firm grip over your actions and attitude.  If you do that, you will, like Paul before you, assure yourselves of a crown of righteousness that will be eternal in heaven.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.