Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
I’m the kind of person who really doesn’t eat very many sweets, but there are some people who can get really hooked on sugary foods. There is nothing wrong with having a few sweet treats occasionally, but when you like something a little bit too much, it can be very easy to overdo it. Many years ago I took my family to a raffle for the local animal shelter, and while we were there, in order to keep the children busy, they had supplied them with a large table that was filled up with brownies, candy and other treats. At that time, our son was about 5 years old, and when we were busy playing bingo, we really weren’t keeping track of him as closely as we should have. During that hour, he must have consumed over fifteen brownies, and who knows what else! By the time we got back home, his face had become pale, and before we knew it, he had disappeared quickly into the bathroom and threw everything back up.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
All of us have our own weaknesses in the flesh, and can have a tendency to enjoy certain things a little bit too much. God has given us freely all things to enjoy, but we must resist the urge of overindulgence and practice moderation in everything that we do. This can take many years to master because our flesh wants to pull us towards the pathway of excess. Whether it’s food, drink, or anything else that you might enjoy, we should never encourage the appetites of the flesh, insomuch that they begin to take control over you. Moderation is a great quality to possess because it will help you to make sure that you never develop a sweet tooth for all of the temporal things of this world.
Philippians 4:5 (KJB) Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
There are certain things that I don’t like in my home, simply because if they were, it would be very tempting to consume them. Even with internet access, if you are not getting online for a specific purpose, it can be very easy to waste away a lot of your day without even thinking about it. Some people drink alcohol or even caffeine but they don’t want easy accessibility to them because they like them a lot. Some people might play games on a game station, and although some of them are fairly benign, you can get caught up wasting ten hours of your day because you have developed a sweet tooth for playing games! Some people are addicted to fishing or hunting, because they will spend the entire day doing that rather than being involved helping the poor or preaching in their communities. I’m not condemning any of these behaviors, but I’m telling people that moderation is something that is an incredibly important characteristic to have in the Christian Life. Someone might like to take a ride on their motorcycle to relax after work, while others love doing it so much they spend 40 hours a week driving around the world. Once again, in that process they waste their lives away because they are not bringing forth fruit unto God or doing anything else productive for others in society. So what I am saying is that you can develop a sweet tooth for just about anything, and it all depends on what you love a lot in this world. Moderation helps you to keep those desires in check and under your control.
1 Peter 2:11 (KJB) Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
Another point is that when things start to become an inordinate obsession, it becomes to pull you away from prayer time, Bible study, good works, preaching the gospel, worship, and even attending a church picnic! Please listen closely, there is nothing wrong with these activities in and of themselves, but when you start lusting after things in this world to the point that they pull you away from God then you have stepped out of the batter box of moderation. The lusts of other things entering in will choke the Word, and it becometh unfruitful! We are all different, and we like to do different things, but you have to be careful that you keep them in check, by determining if they are beneficial to your service towards Christ Jesus or our only pulling you away from things that you could be doing for Him. We never want to allow things to become an obsession, because that’s the way we are supposed to feel about the things of God. If there is anything you are going to obsess on, then you should become addicted to the ministry of the Saints!
1 Corinthians 16:15 (KJB) I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,)
Love is a very strong emotion, but you have to be careful what you place it on.
1 John 2:15-17 (KJB) Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
Temperance is fundamentally the same as moderation, and it is spoken of in other parts of scripture as a quality that a follower of Christ must possess.
1 Corinthians 9:25 (KJB) And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
Without self-control in one’s life, a man is living his life like a horse without a bridle.
Proverbs 25:28 (KJB) He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.
To be successful in the Christian Life will require self-denial of certain things that you enjoy too much.
Titus 2:11-12 (KJB) For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Remember that the Lord Jesus wants us to exercise moderation in every area of our lives, and we must never allow the things of this world to take control of us, by eating too many brownies, and becoming,…..
……The Sweet Tooth
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.
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