Temperance Tuesday- Can you walk away from your favorite food?

What does that statement really mean, do you ask? Does it only apply to what, when and how I eat?

Temperance is actually a virtue. Consider 1 Peter 1,6-7 "And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue knowledge; and to knowledge TEMPERANCE; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity." KJV

You guessed it ….let’s focus on temperance today!

I like this definition from Wikipedia:

Temperance in its modern use is defined as moderation or voluntary SELF-RESTRAINT.

I will put it out there: self-restraint sounds intimidating to me. Today, we have much just at our fingertips. I have to admit that I very seldom practice temperance. If I say to myself: I deserve it! Temperance becomes a strange concept.

I am thinking about Jesus! He is really my only and true role model. Was He a temperate human being? Some people might argue that he was part God and used his Godly strength to practice temperance. Not so! While on this sinful planet he was human, like you and I. I think of Him being in the desert fasting for 40 days (and nights). How did he do it? Was temperance part of it? Had He practiced temperance in his young adult life? He knew that everything was at stake, all of our lives could have been lost forever. One way HE practiced temperance was by abstaining from food.

How is it with me? When I was younger I heard a preacher say: "IF you can walk away from your very favorite food , you can, in the strength of CHRIST, overcome sin in your life. Does that sound difficult? Ask yourself that question or better yet do it next time you sit down with your family or friends. While being hungry and your senses kick in. Then you smell that food, you see it and you want to eat it. Can you walk away from it?

I know I ask a lot of questions but I would like to encourage you to examine yourself and give some honest answers to yourself.

This week I thought about temperance and what it means to me. I believe that it is an important virtue to attain. It must be important because scripture is talking about temperance.

It can not be done in my own strength , I NEED HELP. I started my own challenge this week to be temperate and I started with food.

Let me finish the few thoughts I had by sharing the passage below with you. To be temperate has a purpose in our christian growth and I think this writer lays it out beautifully.

Have a blessed and victorious week in CHRIST because HE IS ABLE!

Ladder of Christian Progress

2 Peter 1:2–8

These words are full of instruction, and strike the keynote of victory. The apostle presents before the believers the ladder of Christian progress, every step of which represents advancement in the knowledge of God, and in the climbing of which there is to be no standstill. . . .

God has called His people to glory and virtue, and these will be manifest in the lives of all who are truly connected with Him. . . . It is the glory of God to give His virtue to His children. He desires to see men and women reaching the highest standard; and when by faith they lay hold of the power of Christ, when they plead His unfailing promises, and claim them as their own, when with an importunity that will not be denied they seek for the power of the Holy Spirit, they will be made complete in Him.

Having received the faith of the gospel, the next work of the believer is to add to His character virtue, and thus cleanse the heart and prepare the mind for the reception of the knowledge of God. This knowledge is the foundation of all true education and of all true service. It is the only real safeguard against temptation; and it is this alone that can make one like God in character. Through the knowledge of God and of His Son Jesus Christ, are given to the believer “all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” No good gift is withheld from him who sincerely desires to obtain the righteousness of God. AA 530, 531

- Gaby Duarte