One of the principles of Steven Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is the private victory must precede public victory. What this means is that we have to bring ourselves under control before we can hope to effectively deal with outside situations. If self control sounds like a biblical virtue, it is.

This self control, among other things, means a sense of mission and focus on the issues at hand that denies the many distractions the power to divert you from the path to your goals. The goals themselves are a subject for another day, but for the moment we shall assume that they are worthwhile in themselves and worthy of your best efforts.

So what obstacles requiring self control may you run into while pursuing the public good? Once you stick your head above the crowd to be heard, you immediately become a target for flying tomatoes and anything else those who live in the status quo can throw at you. Your motives will be questioned. Everything you do will be scrutinized… which is one more reason to walk the straight and narrow and keep everything on the up and up.

Then the most trying time of all may come to you. You may succeed. People will complement you. They may hang on every word you utter. You will be invited to things you’ve never been to before. It can be very easy to start to believe you are actually that good.

It’s good to remember the words of Rudyard Kipling in the poem, If:

If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same…

Then you have the idea of self control.

While yearning for victory and “pressing toward the mark”, it’s necessary to understand that achieving our goals can be the most hazardous part of our political, or business, activity. How many idealists arrive in Washington, or state capitols, determine to overhaul and reform the system, only to find themselves part of the problem a few years later after several successes?

An interesting example of this phenomenon was depicted in the film The Devil’s Advocate. As a promising young lawyer, Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves) is enticed to the big city to work for Al Pacino whose character is interestingly named John Milton. Briefly, he manages to avoid all the temptations placed before him and he ends up back in his small town… only to succumb to the ultimate sin of pride in having eluded the devil himself (Pacino).

Self control may be even harder to attain while riding in the victory parade than walking into the den of lions. How is it achieved?

Can an iron will and unmovable determination keep us from self destructing? Can we just resolve to not fall into the multitude of traps we encounter almost daily? Hardly.

What then can we do? Titus 2:11-12 says: For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. (NIV) 

It means that if we are to stand tall against whatever Goliaths we are facing, we need to be, as the Pentecostals are fond of saying,  “read up and prayed up”. The further into the system you go, the more demands there are on your time. This is one item, however, that cannot be dropped off the agenda.

Pat Robertson says that when he was running for president in 1988, he would get up at 4:30 in the morning to be sure he had this time. It’s dark then! However he understood his results and future would be even darker if he didn’t do it.