Women's Bible Study~ The Virtuous Life ~ Week 2 Temperance

Week 2 ~THE VIRTUE OF TEMPERANCE~

We’re going to talk about Temperance this week.

Temperance -  moderation in action, thought, or feeling : restraint.  habitual moderation in the indulgence of the appetites or passions : moderation in or abstinence from the use of alcoholic beverages.

The world we live in is a modern, self-centered society that encourages people to be happy at any cost. The idea is fed to us that people are strong and in control because they’re doing and saying what they want, and they’re living anyway that they want to.

Throughout scripture we see the battle of self-control described as an ongoing war between the spirit and flesh. Here is one of many scriptures that describes that war:

For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. (Galatians 5:17) Paul goes into greater detail in Romans Chapter 7 on the subject.

For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. – Romans 7:19

The flesh is that voice in your head that tells you, “If it feels good do it.” It tells us that we need things when we don’t, and if we followed it we’d sleep too late, eat too much, and eventually come to poverty. That’s where the heart wants to lead us.

The Spirit is the voice that leads you in truth. The closer you walk with God, and the more time that you spend in His presence the more that you become aware of His will in your life. His covenant is written upon our hearts and our minds, but there’s a battle within each of us, as Satan wants to pull us away from our faith. How does he do that?

Most of the time it’s arguments that make a whole lot of sense in the moment, but in the long run they always lead to destruction. We’ll get into that later.

Another example is in Genesis. Adam and Eve were given one commandment–only one. They could eat from every tree in the garden, but one was forbidden to them. Satan is cunning. He came in the form of a serpent to tempt them to disobey God.

Eve said, “God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.” Gen. 3:3

And the serpent said unto the woman, “Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Genesis. 3:4-5

They didn’t die a physical death that day. They went on to live for many years, but the real truth of the matter is that they experienced a spiritual death the moment they made the choice to disobey God.

The minute that something doesn’t make sense to us, we want to figure out why. It’s good to be a deep thinker and to study the will of God and we should! But if we come to a cross road where we have to choose the wisdom of God over our ability to rationalize it, we must be willing to follow the spirit.

If we only obey God when it makes sense to us then we’re living to serve ourselves, not the Spirit. God’s laws don’t always make sense to us, most times they require us to step out of our comfort zone.

 Assuming that that is true is foolish. It takes strength to bring our flesh under subjection to our spirit.

Whether we’re getting up early to get into the Word, controlling our appetite, or breaking off a relationship that’s detrimental to our life, we’re going to feel the sting that comes with refinement.

The Bible compares the refinement of our faith to fire. It burns, it hurts. It stings. It’s difficult to endure… But once you come out of it and, you see that “joy unspeakable” is yours for the taking. It’s a whole different story.

Temporal happiness will never compare to the inner peace that comes from serving the Lord.

And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. – Galatians 5:24

Those of us who walk in the Spirit walk according to the wisdom that we’ve been given from God. In other words,  making choices day after day to put away sin. When we fall, we praise God for His unfailing mercy and grace, but we stand up again and get back in the race. Putting away sin starts with a decision, and then it calls for self-control. Scripture after scripture talks about the virtue of self-control. It talks about controlling our appetites, greed, and how our bodies are temples of the Holy Ghost. It talks about crucifying the flesh and anything else that controls you.

The Greek word for self-control in Galatians 5:23 

“egkrateia” which means “temperance: the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions, especially his sensual appetites.

Many of our habits are okay, but the overuse of them can be detrimental to our walk of faith. Remember, a virtuous person isn’t ruled by their passions—they passionately pursue an incomparable God. 

Questions

1.Why did Daniel refuse to eat the kings food? Have you ever been asked to compromise your principles? What happened?

2.Why did Satan use scripture to tempt Jesus?

3.What "freedoms" if any do you sensibly moderate or avoid? Why?
This concludes week 2. I pray you are getting something from the study. Make sure to attend next week for week 3. Be blessed, see you next week.