Temperance Allows Us To Love Others

By Troy Pomeroy

When God made the earth, it was perfect. When He created His crowning glory, man, He declared what He had done was “very good.” He had prepared a paradise for man to inhabit and rule, and made life for man full of pleasures and good things.

Then man fell, and sin entered the world. Since that time, Satan has been busy tempting us with sin. He takes the good things of God and perverts them into something harmful to us. This is displeasing to God.

“What does this have to do with temperance?”

Temperance is restraint. It is a high virtue of Christianity. It has to do with limiting the amount of pleasure or instant gratification we receive for a higher purpose.

What is that higher purpose? Love. The reason we live is to love God and love people. By using restraint in our lives, we can resist temptation and fulfill this purpose.

It’s not that the things we are being temperate about are bad things. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. God only makes good things. But, too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.

Let’s take two specific examples of things that God gave us for our pleasure – food and sex. We need both of these for practical reasons – food for nourishment and sex for procreation. Beyond their basic need, God also made them enjoyable.

God’s plan is for us to enjoy the things He made for us. Why else would there be so many choices of food? We can essentially choose from any food we like to nourish our bodies. Yet, there are foods that are good for us and foods that are not. If a person has high blood pressure, it’s in his best interest to watch his salt intake. A person who is lactose intolerant needs to avoid dairy products. And, all of us need to avoid eating too much, as it leads to obesity and many health problems. This displeases God.

God also has a plan for sex. A husband and wife are to enjoy each other sexually within the boundaries of marriage and it is mutually agreeable. Sex outside of the marriage covenant is a counterfeit, perverted version of a beautiful thing. Adultery, fornication, and homosexuality cause physical, emotional, and spiritual harm to the individual involved. This displeases God.

What does this have to do with temperance? The most immediate benefit of practicing restraint is for ourselves. By following God’s plan and enjoying what He has made for us, we get the benefits without the ugly consequences of sin.

More importantly, we get to show love by employing temperance. Having unbridled pleasure ends up enslaving us to that pleasure. We serve it instead of it serving us. When we are in that place, we are not putting God first. We are serving the thing instead of the Maker of the thing. By showing restraint, we take an active role in loving God, which is our first purpose. We can enjoy God’s provision of food, for example, without being a glutton.

Sexual temperance shows our love for people. Sexual abstinence before marriage communicates to our future spouse that he or she is more important than an immediate sexual need. In marriage faithfulness communicates love as nothing else can. We not only gain the blessing of living according to His plan, but we also get to love Him and His people by our self-control.
God intends that we live life to the fullest. The blessings come when we choose a lifestyle of temperance to love Him and love people!

Troy Pomeroy writes from Eagle Point, Oregon. pastortroy@epacenter.com