"I want it now, I want it quick!"

According to a recent article on komonews.com, the site for a broadcasting company based in Seattle, Washington, “One in three households in this country cannot pay off their credit card balance each month. So they roll it over, getting deeper and deeper in debt” (http://www.komonews.com/news/consumer/Credit-card-debt-still-a-serious-problem-in-the-US-299292671.html). Another article from the Wall Street Journal tells the story of a couple who “was retired and had $46,000 in credit-card debt” (http://www.wsj.com/articles/retired-couple-learns-to-manage-credit-card-debt-1429538108). Wset.com reports that “Virginians owe an average of just over $7,000 on their credit cards” and “The national average is around $5,800” (http://www.wset.com/story/28824942/study-va-makes-list-of-states-with-highest-credit-card-debt). No wonder an article by the Northwestern MutualVoice Team claims that “These days, it’s nearly impossible to live debt free” (http://www.forbes.com/sites/northwesternmutual/2015/04/13/saving-for-the-future-1-percent-can-mean-a-lot/). Clearly there is something seriously wrong. What in the world has brought Americans to such a desperate financial state?

In Respectable Sins, Bridges diagnoses the problem. He devotes a chapter to discussing it and outlining various other areas that it affects as well. The problem is, very simply, a lack of self-control. Bridges states that “in the same way that a city without walls [is] vulnerable to an invading army, so a person without self-control is vulnerable to all kinds of temptations” (109). He defines self-control as “a governance or prudence of one's desires, cravings, impulses, emotions, and passions” (110). While eating and drinking, temper, and finances are major areas in which we are often tempted to indulge these feelings, self-control should be applied to every area of our lives. However, we must realize that we cannot exercise self-control in our own strength. We need God's help. Galatians 5:22-23 says “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (NASB). It is only by the power of God's Spirit that we can daily learn to be self-controlled.