The fruits of the Spirit of God are love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control and patience. It is interesting that leaders great or unknown, empowered or restricted, experienced or at the beginning of their journey, wealthy or without financial resources can all experience the fruits of the Spirit without limit or restriction. Every leader should look introspectively on a regular basis and determine if these gifts from God are present, increasing or decreasing. One of the fruits that tends to be a gatekeeper to enjoying all the others is self-control. As we move through the first 9 chapters of 1 Chronicles it is good to stop and look at one leader that lost it all because of lack of self-control. Read 1 Chronicles 3:1.

In the genealogy of King David, Amnon was his first born. One might suppose the firstborn son of a great king was foreordained to do great things for his people. Yet Amnon will end up little more than a footnote in Israel’s history and forfeited any claim to leadership because of his lack of self-control (2 Samuel 13:1-19). Amnon’s lack of self-control led to the disgrace of his family, destroyed his half-sister’s life and eventually resulted in his own death at the hands of a vengeful half-brother.

When self-control was lost by one member of a family, it created a situation that caused the loss of love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and patience for the entire family for a generation.

Is your leadership marked with self-control or do you struggle in certain areas such as honesty and fairness? Do you have areas of your personal life that are out of control i.e. lust or pride or anger? Any area of a leader’s life that lacks self-control will eventually limit their ability to lead effectively and will diminish or eliminate the other fruits of the spirit. Wise leaders understand the power of self-control.

Tags: Fruits of Spirit, Self-Control