Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 1 Corinthians 9:25
Because I was serious about staying drug free for the rest of my life, I asked John to be my sponsor. He looked at me and said, “I will under this condition: you are willing to do whatever it takes to stay sober, especially in your spiritual life.” I said “Yes.” I was eighteen years old. I quickly learned that training in freedom was hard. I had to say “no” to many things, so that I could say “yes” to the right things. I had to wrestle through the tension between caring for self and serving others. I had to change relationships and value time differently and develop daily disciplines. I needed to clean up the wreckage of the past and minimize damage in the present so that I could better follow God’s path into the future. “Whatever it takes, John?” “Yup, whatever it takes.”
I thank God for His Holy Spirit! In Galatians 5:22-23, the last of the spiritual fruit listed is “self-control.” For those yearning to live free from addiction, it is the most important, because it reminds us that this calling to live a “whatever it takes life” is made possible by the Holy Spirit living in you. When God is in control of our lives, we can exhibit the self-control that allows us to do “whatever it takes” that we might receive a prize that is both abundant and eternal. May John’s response ring in your ears to any question you may have. “Whatever it takes, John?” “Yup, whatever it takes.”