Alfred, Lord Tennyson once said, "The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions.” It is a great tag line but to make this a Biblical statement for application to Christians, ALT's quip is missing an important phrase. Our happiness (and more importantly God's glory) does not consist solely in the mastery of our passions but the mastery of God's passion at the expense of our own.

Self control is key a driver in Biblical Servanthood, because serving is aimed at denying our passions and seeking to fulfill God's. Self control allows us to do that. But what is self control? Self Control is a GIFT granted by the Holy Spirit to the Christian that enables us to please God instead of ourselves.

How do think the gift of self-control is helpful to our every day life? How does it impact the way we serve God and other people?

Here are some Scripture verses about self-control.

Proverbs 25:28 (Show me Proverbs 25)
A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.

Acts 24:25 (Show me Acts 24)
And as he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, “Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will summon you.”

1 Corinthians 7:5 (Show me 1 Corinthians 7)
Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

1 Corinthians 7:9 (Show me 1 Corinthians 7)
But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.

1 Corinthians 7:37 (Show me 1 Corinthians 7)
But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity but having his desire under control, and has determined this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well.

1 Corinthians 9:25 (Show me 1 Corinthians 9)
Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

1 Corinthians 9:27 (Show me 1 Corinthians 9)
But I discipline my body and keep it under control,[1] lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
[1]Greek I pummel my body and make it a slave

2 Corinthians 5:14 (Show me 2 Corinthians 5)
For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;

Galatians 5:23 (Show me Galatians 5)
gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

1 Thessalonians 4:4 (Show me 1 Thessalonians 4)
that each one of you know how to control his own body[1] in holiness and honor,
[1]Or how to take a wife for himself; Greek how to possess his own vessel

1 Timothy 2:9 (Show me 1 Timothy 2)
likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire,

1 Timothy 2:15 (Show me 1 Timothy 2)
Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

1 Timothy 3:2 (Show me 1 Timothy 3)
Therefore an overseer[1] must be above reproach, the husband of one wife,[2] sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
[1]Or bishop; Greek episkopos; a similar term occurs in verse 1 [2]Or a man of one woman; also verse 12

2 Timothy 1:7 (Show me 2 Timothy 1)
for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

2 Timothy 3:3 (Show me 2 Timothy 3)
heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,

Titus 1:8 (Show me Titus 1)
but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.

Titus 2:2 (Show me Titus 2)
Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness.

Titus 2:5 (Show me Titus 2)
to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

Titus 2:6 (Show me Titus 2)
Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.

Titus 2:12 (Show me Titus 2)
training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

Hebrews 2:8 (Show me Hebrews 2)
putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.

1 Peter 4:7 (Show me 1 Peter 4)
The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.

2 Peter 1:6 (Show me 2 Peter 1)
and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,

Romans 6 and 8

Romans 2: 6 He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking [1] and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.