I think of this time when my wife and I started dating. She lived in Montana and I lived in Washington. We began to communicate on a daily bases via email, phone, carrier pigeon (just kidding) and any other means that we could communicate. At this time it was year 2001 at the start of the cell phones age, so they were really expensive to use. I did have a cell phone, but it was for emergency use only. However, my emergency was to talk to Katie as much as I could (We all get it right). We would talk at all hours of the day, late in the evening and sometimes maybe 3 or 4 hours at a time. We would do the whole, you hang up, no you hang up bit. It was so great until I got the phone bill. I rang up a $500+ cell phone bill. A cut back was in order, however it took some time for that to happen. After another month of a $500+ cell phone bill, I knew that self control must take place. Which it did, but it took time in the process.
We all have these instances and sometimes it takes us to have something happen in order for us to get a fresh perspective of our need of self control. However, Jesus' life was always in control. He lived a sinless life, where many of us hope to live a sinless hour or day, but Jesus lived his whole life in complete self control. His example is powerful to understand that having self control is critical in leadership. I am sure in Jesus' time with his disciples, there were many times of frustration, but he used his self control to help alter the outcome.
We can learn so much in life and leadership from this example of understanding the importance to keeping self control. I believe self control happens when we think of ourselves less and Christ more. When Christ is the focal point of our life, we look at things with a fresh perspective and through the lens of Jesus. Will we slip up, YES!!! That is where grace comes in. The goal is to consistently get better and it is a work in progress.