Self-Control Is The Key Series

Gigi is Billy Graham's daughter, and she writes about one of

those days she wishes she could wiped off the calendar. It all

started with an experience some of you have had. It was flood

damage to their house. The carpet men were there replacing the

water ruined carpet. She was trying to do some cleaning up of the

mess and overdid it. By suppertime she was totally exhausted. She

got the kids into the car and headed for McDonald's. She stopped

at the bank while her husband ran in. She was doubled parked. She

glanced in her rearview mirror and saw a large older model car pull

up behind her. It was driven by an older woman with flaming red

hair. She started to blast her horn, and now we read Gigi tell what

happened.

"I don't know what possessed me, but after my whirlwind day,

this was the last straw! I decided not to move. She gave another

long, loud blast which just reinforced my stubborn refusal to budge,

and I motioned for her to pass me. As angry as she was, she

managed to maneuver the big car around and pulled up beside me.

Then she lowered her window and began to yell. I blew her a kiss.

That did it! She screamed, then stuck out her tongue.

By this time she was out of her car, threatening me and calling

me names, attracting the attention of people passing by. Suddenly I

wanted to crawl into a hole. The red-headed grandmother returned

to her car, and Stephan appeared, wandering what the commotion

was all about. We continued on to McDonald's, but I was too

distraught to eat."

She could not sleep well for several nights, for she felt she had

been so un Christlike, and she wished she could apologized to the

woman. She had let her tiredness and anxiety drown out the gentle

voice of the Holy Spirit, and let her stubborn human nature take

control. The point is, it happens to the best of Christians at times.

We loose a sense of awareness that we are Christians, and that we

are to be different from the world by demonstrating a power of

self-control that is superior to what is natural to man. The Christian

is under constant attack and without self-control is always at risk of

blowing it, and demonstrating to the world that they are far from a

finished product.

The point that Paul stresses is that a Christian leader is to be

one who has a great deal of self-control so that he does not let his

actions or emotions go to extremes. He does not dominate, lose his

temper, or go off on a binge of drinking to escape the pressures of

life. He is one who has other ways than the world has of dealing

with the stress of life. He is not controlled by the circumstances, but

is self-controlled. Food, sex, and money are all important elements

in his life, but he is not controlled by them, for if he is he will lose his

credibility as a leader. Again, we need to see that people who are

excessive, domineering, and obsessed may be very successful people,

but Paul says they do not qualify to be leaders in the church.

A well known pastor was counseling the son of one of America's

great industrialists and he concluded that his drinking problem was

due to the domineering actions of his father. He confronted the

father and almost got kicked out of his office because the father went

into such a rage. But later the man called and said he reflected on

what had been said and it was true. He ran an empire all day and it

was hard to shift gears when he came home to his family. He began

to cry and admitted that unless God helped him he could not change.

God did help him, and in time he learned to be different with his

son. Here was a man greatly qualified to lead a major industry, but

Paul says he was not qualified to lead even the little church of Crete.

The church has higher standards than government or industry.

In these secular realms there is a demand for leaders who will

do almost anything to succeed. Violence in behavior and the pursuit

of dishonest gain are not vices in the dog eat dog world of

competition. Human nature has not changed. These things were

popular in Paul's day as well, but a Christian is to be different. A

Christian leader is not to be violent Paul says. He writes the same

thing to Timothy, and adds a word to clarify what he means. I Tim.

3:3 says the church leader is to be, "not violent but gentle." No man