Restraint
Human nature does not like restraint of any kind.
One thing I personally don’t like is the restraint of seatbelts. I know that they are a good thing, and that they often save lives when there is an accident. But, I still don’t like them, even though I buckle up because it is the law and I don’t want to have to pay the fine.
Today, many are going their own way, casting off restraint of every kind, living for themselves, and as they say, “Pleasing number one.” It is a day like the book of Judges describes: “In those days … every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6).
But this is not the way it is to be for a believer. We are to recognize that we belong to the Lord, and to own His authority and Lordship in our day-to-day life. “What know ye not that … ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). We are also exhorted to be, “temperate in all things” (1 Corinthians 9:25). Temperance is simply self-control or restraint. To live a life of unrestrained self-indulgence never brings true happiness. To live for Christ under His loving restraint is always a blessing.
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