Scripture:
"He will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his
great foolishness" (Proverbs 5:23)
Each year, we look
forward to our festival of Thanksgiving in America. Being with family and
celebrating God's blessings with visits, delicious food, family activities, and
other fun. We have so much – both spiritual and physical -- to be grateful for!In the same way,
giving gifts to friends and family for the Christmas season is a nice
tradition. However, it has become a tremendous stress to many people as the
holiday season becomes more and more packed with activities. Additionally,
we've just taken time to be thankful for what we already have -- before rushing
out to load up with more "things".
How much is too much?
What would God say about the focus moving from celebrating Jesus’s birth to the
desire for more stuff?We can learn a lot
from the Bible about self-control… and the sad consequences of the lack
thereof.
Freedom through Christ -As Christians, we have the great joy to live with the Holy
Spirit as our guide. That means "the Holy Spirit produces this kind of
fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23).
Those are some excellent, nice traits; they are also some evidence of our
allowing God to work in our lives.These lives should be Christian lives lived in freedom, because
“you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don't
use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to
serve one another in love" (Galatians 5:13). In
other words, we can work to better the lives of our fellows, rather than
selfishly pursuing the things this world values.
Excercise Good Judgment -When we overindulge,
it is so easy to get distracted from the way of the Lord and get caught up in
the ways of the world. We Christians live in the world, but we should not be of the world.The Apostle Paul instructed his friends in Ephesus, "Don't
be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with
the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs amongst
yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts." (Ephesians 5:18-19).Paul wanted to be sure
the Ephesian Christians kept their focus on the Lord, and that is a good
standard for us today. We have to leave room for the Holy Spirit to work in our
lives, and that won't happen if we've crammed our lives full of earthly
pleasures.We must use good
judgment. God gave us many good things in the world for our enjoyment. But that
doesn't mean that we are allowed to use them to fall into the trap of having
too much of a good thing! Let us use our Christ-based freedom to live a godly
human experience, deciding when enough is enough.
