My husband and I just started Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. This course is prompting me to examine all the areas of my life that lack self-control, and I want to change this. As John Piper has observed, “The very concept of ‘self-control’ implies a battle between a divided self.” I cannot win that battle, but Christ can win it in me, and that’s what I’m seeking. I’m not seeking worldly self-control (haven’t mastered that in more than 60 years of living anyway!); instead, I’m seeking godly self-control: Christ alone is magnified in the victory.

Proverbs 25:28 says, “A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls.” In other words, when I lack self-control, I am vulnerable and defenseless, easy prey for the temptations of this world. I’m sick of being easy prey because of my own foolish choices and stubborn will. This is the year for godly self-control.