January 22, 2015

 

Dear MLEPC Members and Friends:

 

Have you ever noticed how many of our faults, flaws, and outright sins are related to excess? We often take things that are good up to a point and begin to overdo them. We then fixate on these things so that our ability to control ourselves is challenged and defeated. We eventually plunge ourselves into activities that damage ourselves, wound others, and grieve God.

 

Think about this in terms of what are known as the Seven Deadly Sins. Pride is when people focus too much and too highly on themselves. Covetousness is found when someone becomes possessed by a desire to possess an object, position, honor, or even another person. Lust takes the good gift of sexuality and turns it into an all-consuming passion. Envy occurs when we too deeply want what another person has and then resent the person for it. Gluttony no longer can control food or substance consumption, but must devour more and more. Anger takes a normal emotion and amplifies it so that people either act out violently or smolder inwardly. Sloth is the inability to stop doing nothing.

 

Note again how each of these Seven Deadly Sins corrupts something good by introducing excess: Too much of ourselves (pride), too much of something beyond ourselves (covetousness), too much sexuality (lust), too much of what someone else enjoys (envy), too much food or drink or other substances (gluttony), too much emotion (anger), and, yes, too much rest, relaxation, and entertainment (sloth). We live in a society increasingly marked by addictions of so many varieties, sizes and shapes. Addiction occurs when moderation gives way to excess that controls and masters a person. Addiction is the symbol of a society imbibing of a "culture of too much."

 

Once we grasp this pattern of excess, we are able to recognize the importance of the second of the Seven Cardinal Virtues, which is temperance. What is temperance? Unfortunately, many people immediately think of temperance as total denial or complete abstinence from someone or something; however, this is misleading. Temperance instead is moderation and balance. It is putting things in their proper perspective and engaging with them in healthy measure. Temperance is closely linked to self-control, which enables a person to resist the temptation to plunge into excess.

 

Everything said thus far could be acknowledged by non-Christian psychologists, sociologists, and philosophers. In fact, temperance was a virtue upheld by Greek thinkers long before the Church made it one of the Seven Cardinal Virtues. So, what transforms temperance into Christian temperance? Christians uniquely believe that a God's-eye perspective is the starting point to true temperance. How does God see human beings, and how He would have us see ourselves? What is His valuation of objects or honors or positions or other people? Why did He create sex and for what good purposes? How would He have me treat my neighbor who has things I wish I had? What is our Lord's view of food, drink, nutrition, and medication? When is anger according to God's righteous standard, and when does it become dangerously self-serving? What is a divine understanding of rest or "Sabbath" that makes healthy room for doing less or doing even nothing for periods of time? God alone knows how we are to understand each of these factors.

 

God alone further created the right balance, combination, and integration of these elements in our lives. The more we see them and pursue them according to His divine design, the greater will be our experience of live-giving temperance which protects us from the destruction that comes through falling into excess. Temperance starts with God and his perspective on our lives. He provides the only clear lens for seeing the balance that leads to life now and forevermore.

 

Pastor Tim 

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