You Really DO Have Self-Control!

By Cami Checketts

I often talk myself into making health-related mistakes. It’s easier to convince myself that I don’t have any self-control rather than make my taste buds suffer. For example, I say that I can’t stop myself from eating that bowl of ice cream. I can’t stop myself from baking another batch of cookies and eating snitches of dough. I can’t stop myself at a party because everything looks so amazing. It’s always nice to say I can’t help it or blame someone else. It’s easy to say it’s not my fault–it’s my innate lack of self-control. Or if all else fails, I can blame it on my mother’s sweet-tooth gene.

I am here to tell you that this is a load of garbage!

From this day forward, I am going to look at things in a different way: Because of Jesus, I’ve got more self-control than I know what to do with! He tells me in John 15 that if I abide in him, he’ll produce spiritual fruit in me. And when I look at the list of spiritual fruit found in Galatians 5, I discover that self-control is right there! That means that if I stay close to Jesus and rely on him, he will produce all of the self-control I need.

Therefore, I believe that I CAN stop my fingers from wrapping themselves around that piece of chocolate in the candy dish and plunging it into my mouth. I CAN resist the urge to whip up a batch of cookies, and bake whole wheat bread instead. I CAN stop eating when I’m full instead of continuing until I’m busting at the seams. I CAN wake up a few minutes earlier, run an extra mile or lift heavier at the gym.

I, Cami Checketts, have self-control. I am strong and motivated and I am not going to allow myself to be a glutton. (And I have a great back-up plan when my self-control falters. I’m going to pray and then call my husband or one of my closest buddies and let them remind me that I’m victorious in Christ!)

How about it, friends? I know that if you are a Christian, you have self-control too! Let’s trust in God’s power at work in us and stop making excuses. Who’s with me?

Cami Checketts is a wife, author, exercise scientist, and proud mother of three future WWF champions. Her latest novel, The Sister Pact, is in stores now. www.camichecketts.com © 2009