Temperance: Our appetites

By: Gabriela Yareliz

From the book Temperance. No matter what you believe, this has to do with your connection to God, and your mental and physical power. Why must we abstain from certain things? When we indulge in certain “appetites,” what do we bring upon ourselves? I will be studying this, and how we can find balance and abstain completely from those things which ultimately harm us, and harm our connection to God.

“Appetites” is not just referring to what we eat, but also what we do physically, and what other things we indulge in.

By: Ellen G. White, chapter 2, TE

“The Secret of the Enemy’s Strategy—

Intemperance of any kind benumbs the perceptive organs and so weakens the brain-nerve power that eternal things are not appreciated, but placed upon a level with the common. The higher powers of the mind, designed for elevated purposes, are brought into slavery to the baser passions. If our physical habits are not right, our mental and moral powers cannot be strong; for great sympathy exists between the physical and the moral.—Testimonies for the Church 3:50, 51. – {Te 12.4}
The brain nerves which communicate with the entire system are the only medium through which Heaven can communicate to man and affect his inmost life. Whatever disturbs the circulation of the electric currents in the nervous system lessens the strength of the vital powers, and the result is a deadening of the sensibilities of the mind.—Testimonies for the Church 2:347. – {Te 13.1}

Through appetite, Satan controlled the mind and being. Thousands who might have lived, have prematurely passed into their graves, physical, mental, and moral wrecks. They had good powers, but they sacrificed all to indulgence of appetite, which led them to lay the reins upon the neck of lust.—Testimonies for the Church 3:561, 562. – {Te 14.2}“

It is so important that we take seriously our connection with God through the mind, and guard it from all indulgences that weaken our character, and mental and physical faculties. It is our decisions that mark whether our mental and physical capacities are in tip-top shape.

Choices, choices, choices.