from slavery to sonship.2 While the “tree” of my life will always grow some thorns, I am fundamentally a fruit tree. In Christ I have been genetically re-engineered to produce the fruits of the Spirit—and self-control is one of them!3 Lest I then resort to shallow triumphalism (as I am prone to do), I was also reminded that in Scripture, sanctification is a thoroughly progressive reality. I always said I believed it—“nobody’s perfect” is a self-evident truth in any culture—but in practice I still