In the “Lord of the Rings” by Tolkien there is a magical ring. If you were to touch this ring you would become consumed with the desire to own it. But the truth of the matter is you would not own it…. It would own you! You would become a slave to it. Frodo gets the ring and is unable to give it up. No matter how hard he tries…. Frodo cannot give up the ring; the ring has a firm hold on Frodo. His friend Gandalf tried to warn Frodo, but like many of us in the grips of addiction, or out of control desires, Frodo does not hear his friend Gandalf. “If you had warned me,” said Frodo, “or even sent me a message, I would have done away with it.” “Would you? ... Try now!” Frodo drew the Ring out of his pocket, again, and looked at it…He had intended to fling it from him into the very hottest part of the fire. But he found now that he could not do so, without great struggle. He weighs the Ring in his hand, hesitating, and forcing himself to remember all that Gandalf had told him; and then with an effort of will Frodo made a movement, as if to cast it away …but then found that he had put it back in his pocket. Gandalf laughed grimly. “You see? Already you cannot easily let it go, nor will to damage it. And I could not ‘make’ you – except by force.
Ever feel like Frodo? I know I have… almost daily. Frodo with an effort of his will makes a movement to toss the ring away, but finds it back in his pocket. He went through the motions with all his might, with all his strength and will, and yet somehow the ring is mysteriously back in his pocket. Not so mysterious… To understand the mystery we must go back to the beginning. Back to when Frodo first finds the ring; when Frodo is first attracted to the ring. Frodo had been told that the ring would not bring him any good. Frodo knew, way down deep that he should not pick up the ring, but, “he just couldn’t help himself”. Sound familiar? We often come across things in our life that we know are not good for us. Things we know are in direct conflict with God’s Word, and that to which He has called us. Yet, something draws us; something convinces us that "just this once" will be okay. We are not going to be taken in. We hush the voice coming from inside that says “no”, and "just this once" we step into the darkness. For the most part "just this once"--- could be just this once--- if only, we would stop there. But we survived the “just this once”. So, we find ourselves, once again, back at the precipice. No harm came to us last time… so just once more... "it will be okay" and we hush the voice one more time. The cycle continues until the voice inside us is no longer heard! Like Frodo we are caught, wondering how we got there, and feeling as if there is, now, no way out.
How we get there is not a mystery. We get there through our natural human bent--our sin nature. Whether we like it or not we are often attracted to that which we should not be attracted. The Devil surely helps us along by appealing to our senses and making it all seem so harmless, so beautiful, so attractive. The Devil knows if he can get us to do it once, odds are he can get us to do it again, and then again, until we are hooked. God, the one who knows us best, knew we would be tempted. He gave us His Word so that we might recognize the rings (the temptations) in our lives. He gave us the gift of Prayer that we might be able to go to Him and ask for help, for strength to resist picking up the ring (the temptation). He knows the wiles of the Devil and He gave us the most powerful weapon of all, The Holy Spirit.
Did you catch the phrase in our story of Frodo “with an effort of his will”? We don’t need to fight the battle alone… if we are willing to surrender our control to the Holy Spirit, He will fight the battle for us. He will give us the strength to resist, so that we need never succumb. If we surrender and listen to the voice from inside of us, we will be able to leave the “ring” right where we came across it. The secret to the mystery of Self-control is listening to the inside voice (the voice of the Holy Spirit) at the first sign of temptation. You surrender your will to that of the Holy’s Sprit, not after you have picked up the ring, but as soon as you see the ring. Once you have picked up the ring, and slipped it into your pocket, it is too late for Self-control!
Self-control is keeping one’s self in check. Self-control is saying no at the very first sign of danger. Self-control is achieved as we abide in the Vine and allow the Holy Spirit to develop the Fruit component of Self-control in our lives. Self-control is not about the power of control, it is about the power of surrender.
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