First Things First

E. G White References

P. P. 562

True temperance teaches us to dispense entirely with everything hurtful and to use judiciously that which is healthful. There are few who realize as they should how much their habits of diet have to so with their health, their character, their usefulness in this world, and their eternal destiny.

C. D. 127

God requires of His people continual advancement. We need to learn that indulged appetite is the greatest hindrance to mental improvement and soul sanctification. With all our profession of health reform, many of us eat improperly.

Temp. 150

Moses preached a great deal on this subject, and the reason the people did not go through to the promised land was because of repeated indulgence of appetite. Nine tenths of the wickedness among the children of today is caused by intemperance in eating and drinking. Adam and Eve lost Eden through the indulgence of appetite, and we can only regain it by the denial of the same. -- Review & Herald, October 21, 1884.

C. D. 150

Satan is constantly on the alert to bring the race fully under his control. His strongest hold on man is through the appetite, and this he seeks to stimulate in every possible way. All unnatural excitants are harmful.

Temp. 59

The controlling power of appetite will prove the ruin of thousands, when, if they had conquered on this point, they would have had moral power to gain the victory over every other temptation of Satan. But those who are slaves to appetite will fail in perfecting Christian character. The continual transgression of man for six thousand years has brought sickness, pain, and death as its fruits. And as we near the close of time, Satan’s temptation to indulge appetite will be more powerful and more difficult to overcome -- Testimonies, vol 3 pp 491-2

2 T. 400

All who are partakers of the divine nature will escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. It is impossible for those who indulge the appetite to attain to Christian perfection.

M. Y. P. 236

Satan comes to man with his temptations as an angel of light, as he came to Christ. He has been working to bring man into a condition of physical and moral weakness, that he may overcome him with his temptations, and then triumph over his ruin. And he has been successful in tempting man to indulge appetite, regardless of the result. He well knows that it is impossible for man to discharge his obligations to God and to his fellow-men, while he impairs the faculties God has given him. The brain is the capital of the body. If the perceptive faculties become benumbed through intemperance of any kind, eternal things are not discerned.

C.T. B. H. 54

The strength of the temptation to indulge appetite can be measured only by the inexpressible anguish of our Redeemer in that long fast in the wilderness. He knew that the indulgence of perverted appetite would so deaden man’s perceptions that sacred things could not be discerned. Adam fell by the indulgence of appetite; Christ overcame by the denial of appetite. And our only hope of regaining Eden is through firm self-control. If the power of indulged appetite was so strong upon the race, that, in order to break its hold, the divine Son of God, in man’s behalf, had to endure a fast of nearly six weeks, what a work is before the Christian! Yet however great the struggle, he may overcome. By the help of that divine power which withstood the fiercest temptations that Satan could invent, he, too may be entirely successful in his warfare with evil, and at last may wear the victor’s crown in the kingdom of God.

D. A. 122

Of all the lessons to be learned from our Lord’s first great temptation, none is more important than that bearing upon the control of the appetites and passions. In all ages, temptations appealing to the physical nature have been most effectual in corrupting and degrading mankind. Through intemperance, Satan works to destroy the mental and moral powers that God gave man as a priceless endowment. Thus it becomes impossible for men to appreciate things of eternal worth. Through sensual indulgences, Satan seeks to blot from the soul every trace of likeness to God.

Bible References

I Corinthians 9:25

25 And every man that striveth for the mastery in temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
 

Proverbs 23:2

2 And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.

I Corinthians 10:31

31 Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God:

Questions for Thought

If character is revealed by our habitual life style, how can we cultivate a wholesome appetite?

What are the benefits spiritually as well as physically of developing this wholesome appetite?