Overeating and Control of Appetite
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assurance that we too may come off victors in our conflicts with the
enemy. But it is not our heavenly Father’s purpose to save us without
an effort on our part to co-operate with Christ. We must act our part,
and divine power, uniting with our effort, will bring victory.
We meet intemperance everywhere. We see it on the cars, the
steamboats, and wherever we go; and we should ask ourselves what we
are doing to rescue souls from the tempter’s grasp. 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, and they cultivate
the desire for liquor. How can we enlighten the people, and prevent
the terrible evils that result from the use of these things? Have we
done all that we can do in this direction?
Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 19
Christ fought the battle upon the point of appetite, and came off
victorious; and we also can conquer through strength derived from
Him. Who will enter in through the gates into the city?—Not those
who declare that they can not break the force of appetite. Christ has
resisted the power of him who would hold us in bondage; though
weakened by His long fast of forty days, He withstood temptation, and
proved by this act that our cases are not hopeless. I know that we can
not obtain the victory alone; and how thankful we should be that we
have a living Saviour, who is ready and willing to aid us!
The Desire of Ages, 122-123
Of all the lessons to be learned from our Lord’s first great temp-
tation, 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 to man as a priceless endowment.
Thus it becomes impossible for men to appreciate things of eternal
worth. Through sensual indulgence, Satan seeks to blot from the soul
every trace of likeness to God.
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The uncontrolled indulgence and consequent disease and degrada-
tion that existed at Christ’s first advent, will again exist, with intensity