Divine Self-Control

The world loves passion. It loves unbridled emotion.  The world teaches "if it feels good it can't be wrong", and "you can do anything you put your mind to." As a result God has given them over to degrading passions and to depraved thinking (Romans 1:26,28). 

It is a fruitless endeavor to attempt to control other people, the future, or the universe as some believe. How passionate we are about something is not a guarantee of success, and our best efforts will never be enough to overcome sin (Willpower is insufficient). 

That being said, being passionate about the things of God is not wrong. God created us to be dedicated to serving Him and loving others (Romans 12:9-13), but He is also a God of peace, not confusion.  (1 Cor 14:33) As believers we do not "run to the same excess of riot" (1 Peter 4:4). Our lives are to be characterized by peace and moderation, understanding our liberty but not allowing our desires to become unhealthy or out of balance.  (1 Cor 6:12, 1 Cor 10:23)

Divine self-control is the act of bringing our body, mind and heart into submission to God's law.  Genesis 4:7 perfectly defines what self-control in the life of a christian means:

...sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it. -Genesis 4:7

We are called to rule over the lusts of our hearts, our thoughts, our words and actions. 

The scriptures speak about maintaining a sober mind (1 Peter 1:13, 4:7 & 5:8 1 Timothy 3:2, Titus 2:2).  We need to be vigilant to avoid being carried away by sensuality and emotions, we must always temper our emotions with self-control through godly knowledge.  This means that we must first get our minds right (Taking control of your thoughts).  Once our mind is clear and renewed we get to work on training the body.