Daily Devotional For Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Good morning Southside. Thank you for joining us today and meditating on God’s Word through this devotional. Today, our passage comes from Proverbs 25:28:

“A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls” (NLT).

A Christian without self-control is one who is not bearing the Fruit of the Spirit. If you have forgotten what this is, read Galatians 5:22-23. That last listed is “self-control.” One point of Proverbs 25:28, is that in biblical days, a city’s best defense was its walls – how high they were, how thick they were, how strong they were and how well defended they were with scouts on top scanning the horizon for attacks. 

If you remember the story of Jericho, when the walls came tumbling down by the power of God, the Hebrews were able to enter it, kill the people and take the spoils. If you have read the Book of Nehemiah, God motivated the King of Persia to allow Nehemiah to return with the Jews to rebuild the wall around it some 70 years later. We cannot grow spiritually without self-control. Old Testament scholar Gary Brady tells this story:

“Beethoven was once performing a new piano concerto in Vienna. Forgetting that he was the soloist, he began conducting and then threw out his arms with such force that he knocked the lights off the piano. He began again with two choirboys holding the lights. This time his hand hit one of the boys, who dropped the light. Enraged, he then struck the piano with such force that the first chord broke six strings. The audience was in fits of laughter despite the man’s undoubted genius” ( Source: Gary Brady, Heavenly Wisdom: Proverbs Simply Explained, (pp. 686–687).

The Apostle Paul reminds us of this in 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline” (NLT). If you take time to read the Book of Proverbs, you will see that the themes of life and death are mentioned throughout it. “Life” and “live” are mentioned 56 times and “death” and “die” are mentioned 20 times. Both of these themes are focused around self-control. In our culture when we say that something is a “matter of life and death,” we mean it is very important to us. This matters to us above everything else on our plate right now. This takes top priority. 

As someone once said, “Life is more than just having a pulse and death is more than not having a pulse.” Unless someone commits suicide, they do not how or when of their death. All they really do know is the certainty of if. A town with a wall is a place where the residents have hope of safety and security. It is a place for even those who live outside that city can seek refuge when the need arises. 

A person who does not have self-control, or self-discipline, is doomed. There is a paradox here. A person who has a hot temper does not have the challenge of keeping that hot temper in. They had a challenge of not keeping it out. This is true with every area where we lack self-control. It is not keeping something out, it is keeping something from getting out. 

Reflection Assignment: Is there something inside of you that you try to keep in so that it does not get out? When it comes to the Fruit of the Spirit of self-control, how well is your spiritual wall with this? When you lose self-control, a part of you goes through a death step. We can so harden our hearts that we see no need for a spiritual “wall.” In what areas of your life do you need to have a wall to keep something in, rather than letting it get out?

Scripture To Meditate On: Proverbs 16:32, “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city” (NASB).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, please produce in me the spiritual fruit of self-control. I do not want my heart invaded nor do I want the sin in it to get out. I need you Jesus. Until the day of my death, I want to live a life of self-control. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly