“Like a city that is broken into and without walls is a man
who has no control over his spirit,” Proverbs 28.
In ancient times a city
without walls was defenseless. An army wasn’t required to penetrate the city, a
marauding band of brigands need simply ride down the streets. A city without
walls was vulnerable to whomever happened to be passing by; there were no
walls, no gates, no towers; and no guards or watchmen on the towers, gates, or
walls. If what was happening outside the city without walls was good, then all
was good. However, if what was happening outside this same city was bad, then
the bad would soon be in the city. The city without walls was subject to the environment
of what was happening outside the city – it had no walls to differentiate itself
from its environment.
A man who has no control over
his spirit, over his inner person, is defenseless against circumstances, defenseless
against outside environments and attitudes. Such a person either reacts against
what comes at him, or blends in with his environment – since his heart and mind
have no control he cannot filter and process situations and emotional or
intellectual environments – he can only react against the outside or conform to
it.
People who have no control
over their spirit tend to become angry; angry at their lack of self-control,
angry at the intrusions of others, angry at conforming to emotional and
intellectual environments with which they may not agree, angry at their lack of
self-definition. This anger can be turned inward or outward – either way it is
destructive, both to the person in question and to those around him or her.
Paul writes that a facet of
the fruit of the Spirit is self-control (Galatians 5:23) and that one of the
deeds of the flesh is “outbursts of anger” (Galatians 5:20). Peter writes that
self-control is a quality that should be increasing in our lives so that we
will not be “neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ,” (2 Peter 1:5 – 8).
A city with walls in ancient
times was also a city with gates; and a city with gates had gatekeepers, guards
who decided who could come in and who could go out. A faithless gatekeeper
allowed anyone in, a faithless gatekeeper fell asleep on his watch; a faithful
gatekeeper kept his eyes open and his mind awake, a faithful gatekeeper used
discernment in deciding who could come into the city.
We are to guard our hearts and
minds by discerning what is holy and pure and what is not; we are to recognize that
not everything we think and feel ought to be allowed out of the gate of our
lips for we still struggle with the toxicity of the fall. The Word of God can
be a wall that protects us from the evil of the world that would crash our
gates and destroy our walls and invade our lives in order to steal, to kill,
and to destroy.
Self-control for the follower
of Jesus Christ is surrender of the will to Jesus Christ; self-control is the
surrender of self to Christ and His Cross. In this sense it is not so much
self-control as it is submission of the self to Christ, and as we submit to
Christ we find our refuge in Him, our shelter in Him, our peace in Him. Since
no man or woman can be truly autonomous, our decision is whether we will submit
to Jesus Christ or attempt to reign by ourselves in life; the latter ensures
that we will become slaves of sin, of death, and of the devil. The latter
ensures that we will be as a city without walls.
While in the ancient world
cities had walls, in our world walls of distinction are discouraged and often
attacked. Anything and everything goes in our society except the idea that on
this side of the wall is right and on that side of the wall is wrong, on this
side of the wall is light and on that side of the wall is darkness.
The New Jerusalem has a great
and high wall (Rev. 21:12) and that which is evil and unclean cannot enter the
city (21:27). This is the city to which we are called to live, a holy city. As
living stones (Eph. 2:21; 1 Pt. 2:5) of this city we are to exhibit the
characteristics of the city – the characteristics of holiness and righteousness
and discernment. Rather than living in a world without walls in which all is
chaos, we are to live as those who have the walls of discernment, sound
judgment, mature thinking, wisdom, and understanding.
“Blessed are the peacemakers
for they shall be called sons of God.”
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