CHAPTER 6
SELF-CONTROL “When you sit down to eat with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you; and put a knife to your throat if you are a man given to appetite. Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food.” Proverbs 23:1-3
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he application of what Solomon is telling us here goes beyond just the food that we eat. He is talking about self-control and balance. While he did say, of course, that we shouldn’t allow our appetites to get out of control, the issue of self-control extends to nearly every area of our lives. It includes, but is not limited to, food, money, and sex. There is an important lesson to be found here. Something does not need to be inherently bad in order to be damaging. Satan, the Bible tells us, “…comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (from John 10:10, NIV). He is just as content to destroy by misusing something that is good and necessary as he is to use something that has no redeeming value.
Something does not need to be inherently bad in order to be damaging.
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