Overeating and Control of Appetite
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considered hopeless. He would be of no use to others, and was a curse
to himself. No dependence could be placed upon him in anything. His
influence would be ever contaminating others, and the world would
be better without such a character; for his terrible defects would be
perpetuated. None who have a sense of their accountability to God
will allow the animal propensities to control reason. Those who do
this are not Christians, whoever they may be, and however exalted
their profession. The injunction of Christ is, “Be ye therefore perfect,
even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” He here shows us
that we may be as perfect in our sphere as God is in His sphere.
Testimonies for the Church 4:515-516
God wants men to cultivate force of character. Those who are
merely time-servers are not the ones who will receive a rich reward
by and by. He wants those who labor in His cause to be men of keen
feeling and quick perception. They should be temperate in eating; rich
and luxurious food should find no place upon their tables; and when
the brain is constantly taxed, and there is a lack of physical exercise,
they should eat sparingly, even of plain food. Daniel’s clearness of
mind and firmness of purpose, his strength of intellect in acquiring
knowledge, were due in a great degree to the plainness of his diet, in
connection with his life of prayer.
Testimonies for the Church 4:574
Few have moral stamina to resist temptation, especially of the
appetite, and to practice self-denial. To some it is a temptation too
strong to be resisted to see others eat the third meal; and they imagine
they are hungry, when the feeling is not a call of the stomach for
food, but a desire of the mind that has not been fortified with firm
principle, and disciplined to self-denial. The walls of self-control
and self-restriction should not in a single instance be weakened and
broken down. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, says, “I keep under my
body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have
preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”
Those who do not overcome in little things will have no moral
power to withstand greater temptations.