Temperance – One of the Seven Virtues
The focus today is temperance, which is moderation or voluntary self-restraint from excess. The world encourages us that we should give in to our passions and just “go with the flow”, but as Christians we understand that the spirit and flesh are at war within us. When we exercise self-restraint we are agreeing with Paul when he says “although everything is permissible I will not be enslaved by anything” (1 Cor 6:12), but can we be enslaved by self-restraint.
Temperance is a word that has fallen out of use in today’s language. Is it because the language has changed or is it because it is a virtue that is no longer pursued? A virtue is defined as “a habitual and firm desire to do the right thing (as defined by God)”. Temperance is listed as one of the Seven Virtues of the Catholic Church (along with Chastity, Charity, Diligence, Patience, Kindness and Humility). If you want to dig deeper today you could score yourselves on a scale of 1 to 10 in each of these areas and then see how close to 70 you get. That would probably force some of us to our knees in prayer.
On the one end of the scale we have hedonism, if it feels good we should do it. On the other end of the scale we have asceticism, if it feels good we shouldn’t do it! In the middle we have temperance, balance between the two extremes. God wants the best for us both physically and spiritually. He is not there to suck the joy out of life, or give us every natural desire. Jesus said that he has come to give us abundant life (John 10:10) and also that we will have trouble (John 16:33).
Let us examine our lives and identify those areas where we are out of balance, and then seek to bring them back into balance. Consider physical v. spiritual, today v. tomorrow, loving God v. loving others, work v. leisure, studying v. practicing, and the list goes on.
1 Timothy 4:4-5 (NIV) For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.
Blessings,
Craig