When I was serving in the military, I noticed that all the soldiers had two favorite commands: ‘Begin your meal!’ and ‘Lights out!’ Everyone eagerly awaited these commands so they could obey them immediately.
Food and rest are very interesting parts of every person’s life, and many people live and work in order to eat and rest. For most people, this has become a modern-day cult. But because of the pandemic, many people’s rest dragged on for a very long time and lost its appeal.
I remember the festive feasts of my former life. When such an event was announced, our whole life began to revolve around preparing for the coming celebration. The anticipation of the festivities always brought joy. New Year’s Day was a feast for the stomach. And what happened on such days? We gathered with friends and stuffed ourselves like pigs. If alcohol was present in some homes, the consequences of such a celebration turned into something incomprehensible, with very serious repercussions and headaches. After recovering from severe overeating and poisoning, we resolved never to do it again. But such intentions vanished very quickly when the next holiday approached. And money and health paid for it all.
And how many different pleasures the world offers! Eat and drink whatever you want, party and have fun as much as you can, travel and see as much as your money allows.
An emperor of the past uttered the now-famous phrase: ‘Give the people bread and circuses, and you can rule them however you please.’
The fifth law: Temperance and abstinence from what is harmful.
It is written that the fruit of the Spirit is temperance. Throughout the Bible, there is also much counsel about what we should abstain from.
Temperance is the moderate use of what is beneficial and complete abstinence from everything that destroys and causes harm.
Have you ever overeaten food that made you nauseated and disgusted you? I do not think anyone would go that far. People usually overeat what is very tasty and very beneficial. The taste buds received pleasure, the brain experienced delight, while the poor body went to work emptying the stomach and neutralizing and eliminating the poisons produced as an excessive amount of food decayed and fermented.
But if I eat in moderation while consuming something dangerous to my health, my body is still exposed to mortal danger as it tries to cleanse me as quickly as possible of all the toxins and poisons that I thoughtlessly take into myself. And if I both overeat and poison my body, all the powers within me labor only to save my life from such abuse.
But time passes, and my ignorance regarding temperance eventually causes my body to stop resisting and break down, allowing diseases to establish their own rule. Then I go to a doctor or other specialists to receive some magic medicine that would allow me to continue living afterward however I please, without thinking about the future.
There is a very strange motto in our time: ‘If you are going to party, then party all the way!’ It sends foolish people to an early grave.
Temperance and moderation preserve the soul and body from much unnecessary suffering, temptation, and sin.
While moderation is needed most in relation to beneficial things, abstinence protects me from the influence of harmful and poisonous temptations that are offered everywhere.
Food is not the only avenue through which the temptations of intemperance and excess can come. Some substances destroy and kill my body and my spirituality. These include alcohol, tobacco, drugs, coffee, medicinal and chemical substances, and other things. There is also spiritual food that I must avoid and not partake of. It includes everything that brings sickness and death to my soul—for example, pornography, gossip, evil company, witchcraft, Satanism, idolatry, theft, and other things called sin.
The enemy of souls has set his traps everywhere so that foolish and curious people will fall into them and become addicted. Through these addictions, Satan can control their minds so that they tempt others like themselves. And Satan has achieved remarkable success in his plans.
But God’s laws and principles remain unchangeable, and everyone who desires to know God and His plan of Salvation receives freedom from every form of slavery and addiction and gains the power of temperance. God begins to teach those who believe in Jesus as their personal Savior. These people receive deliverance and can choose their future path according to God’s will and the laws of happiness, love, and health.
And the Holy Spirit works in the hearts of those who were captives of Satan and languished in the prison of sin without knowing a way out, but who believed God, cried out for help from above, and came to know Jesus as the True Deliverer.
I was one of those slaves of sin. I received temporary pleasure from what I did, but I had no peace in my heart and lived with constant pangs of conscience. If anyone considered himself a good and kind person, it certainly was not I. Appetite, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life dictated their rules to me, and I did their will, receiving fleeting pleasure while my soul lived in fear. How sweet sin seems to those who wish to taste it out of curiosity, and how tightly it holds its victims afterward.
But fortunately, Jesus came into my prison and offered me Himself and His friendship, making it clear that He was ready to forgive me completely and give me a new beginning with wonderful prospects. I believed Him, responded, and followed wherever He led me. I could not even imagine that there was an entire world of the Heavenly Kingdom that would be opened to me in this very life, but I tasted it and learned that the Lord is good.
Many rules for temperance can be devised, and many prohibitions can be written. But they will not have the power to set people free. For example, how would the slogan ‘Drug addicts against drugs’ sound? Foolish. Or consider a person who sees the direct warning ‘Smoking kills’ on a pack of cigarettes, along with pictures of disease and death, yet buys it, fails to notice the warning, or is already unable to break free and continues smoking. Or when a tobacco company runs an anti-smoking campaign among young people, saying that children must not smoke and that it is permissible only for adults, what does a teenager hear? You can guess for yourself.
But Jesus destroys all of this, forbidding nothing yet giving Himself. The eyes are opened, the will is set free, the mind comes alive, and the power appears to say ‘no’ to lawlessness. Obedience to God becomes so natural that you look upon sin with disgust, and the enchanting pleasures and beautiful landscapes of sinful enjoyment no longer entice you. All of it becomes the refuse of this world, and you no longer want to feed at the garbage dump. The soul seeks the Heavenly Bread and finds Him in abundance.
The enemy of souls tries to bring back memories of sensual experiences, but he meets firm resistance. Yet sometimes you become careless and eat too much of something beneficial, burdening your body or mind. You immediately lose your peace and seek a solution to the problem, remember the laws of happiness and health, and ask for forgiveness and healing. The spirit of temperance brings you to the point where you simply know the proper measure in everything and can stop in time, politely refusing everyone who tries to tempt you. And this is written by God in the heart.
Bible verses for this chapter:
Exodus 20:1–3; Galatians 5:22–23; Ezekiel 16:49; Ecclesiastes 5:11; 10:17; 2 Peter 1:5–7; Luke 6:25; Proverbs 17:27; 23:27–35; 1 Samuel 21:4; Exodus 19:14–15; Acts 15:19–20, 28–29; 24:24–25; 1 Corinthians 7:5–9; 9:24–27; 1 Thessalonians 4:3–7; 2 Timothy 3:1–5; Titus 1:7–9