July 31
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.’” (Galatians 5:22-23)
Yesterday, I quoted from a book by Laura Vanderkamp on some fascinating research on self-control that was done by Professor Baumeister. Let me offer a few more quotes and then comment on how these things can help us in our battle against sin.
“In the morning, though, after a decent night’s sleep, the supply of willpower is fresh. We’re more inclined to be optimistic; one analysis of Twitter feeds from around the world found that people are more likely to use words like ‘awesome’ and ‘super’ between 6:00 and 9:00 a.m. than at other times of the day. In these early hours, we have enough willpower and energy to tackle things that require internal motivation, things the outside world does not immediately demand or reward.
“’Getting things down to routines and habits takes willpower at first but in the long run conserves willpower,’ says Baumeister. ‘Once things become habitual, they operate as automatic processes, which consume less willpower.’…Successful people turn high-value tasks into morning rituals, conserving their energy for later battles – those annoying colleagues, traffic, and other willpower sappers…. As Tierney and Baumeister write, ‘Ultimately, self-control lets you relax because it removes stress and enables you to conserve willpower for the important challenges.’”
These observations are very applicable to our discussion about overcoming temptation, and they certainly fit well with my own observations of my own weaknesses. Getting a good rest is critical to recharge our mental state. I feel noticeably more “spiritual” and oriented to spiritual things in the mornings. That is when I seem to pray the best and have the best times with the Lord; and it is also the time that I feel most determined and committed to not sin against the Lord and the time when sin seems most repulsive to me. Likewise, I am most vulnerable to temptation in the evenings, nighttime especially, after I have worked hard and focused on doing things all day long, and when I am tired. These are the times I feel noticeably more “fleshy.”
There are several “take-aways” from this. First, having my devotions and prayer and study time with the Lord in the mornings, and making it a habit, is leveraging the best time of my day, giving the Lord my best. Second, making sure that I am aware of the dangers of being tempted when I am tired and how my self-control is lessened in the evenings should motivate us to making a habit of getting to bed early and ensuring we get enough rest each and every day.