A DIFFERENT TAKE ON STRENGTH
Proverbs 16:32
32 He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.
From this Biblical perspective, a person who can control themselves is truly strong.
Someone who is slow to anger is better than the mighty. The word better is a word used frequently in Scripture. It is translated better 75 times and good over 100 times. The same word is also translated as good-looking and handsome. Any way we translate this word, being able to control our anger is an excellent proposition. And being slow to anger is better than the mighty, which is also translated as strong and valiant warrior. The idea being put forth is that someone who can control their anger is better than someone who can exert physical strength.
In the book of James, we are all encouraged to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. James does not add any comparisons but does tell us that man’s anger does not produce the righteousness of God. Never becoming angry is not the objective. Controlling our anger and being slow to arrive at anger is the goal.
The person who rules his spirit is better, stronger, than the one who conquerors a city. The word rule is also translated in other places as having dominion over, master, govern, and gain control. Because the word spirit is translated in so many ways, we can safely say this control is over our emotions, our minds, and our passions. Being able to rule over these areas of our lives is a show of real strength. We all know of strong gifted people who were not able to control themselves and wound up in a bad place.
In the first chapter of Second Peter, there is a list of qualities we are encouraged to add to our faith and with our faith. Qualities such as virtue, which is moral excellence and perseverance. One of the qualities that Peter has in his list is self-control. Peter, writing by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says these qualities are to be in us in abundance. These qualities are a function of being cleansed from our old sins. And if we possess these qualities, we will never stumble. In Galatians, Paul lists self-control as one of the fruits of the spirit. Both examples point toward our capacity to operate in self-control, especially after becoming new creations in Christ. Both Peter and Paul were writing to believers.
APPLICATION
So, if we begin to see that controlling our anger, emotions, and passions is a show of genuine strength, it might make self-control more appealing. And if we will accept that being made a new creation in Christ has given us a new capacity to operate in self-control, we might stop talking ourselves out of it. Believe it. Make it personal. And put self-control into practice. You are stronger than you think.
PRAYER
Lord, please show me how to make self-control a bigger part of my life. You have enabled me and sent Your Holy Spirit to help me so that I might rule over myself.