Again and again I’ve seen that the only real freedom a person ever has comes from developing inner self-control. And how do you develop this? It’s obviously a lifetime project, but if you want to begin, here are some guidelines to follow.
Take a moral inventory: decide the areas in your life where you may need more self-control. Your job, for example. You might never steal merchandise, but do you steal time? Do you ever come in late, leave early, paid an expense account or change a private phone call to the company? What about your marriage? Are there areas in your life—or even in your thoughts—where you deceive your married partner? And your children, do you always tell them the truth?
Do you set up standards for them that you refuse to meet yourself?
Work from a spiritual base: The best base for spiritual growth is, of course, the Bible. What do the Ten Commandments say to you? Christ’s Sermon on the Mount? It’s vital that you know what you believe about God and how this belief relates to your life.
Concentrate on thought-control: Wrong action starts with a thought. Work at blocking those wrong thoughts before they become action. Not that you can totally prevent a tempting or destructive thought from entering your mind. But you can refuse to dwell on the thought and thus keep it from enlarging.
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