Food Temperance Lessons

Teaching temperance relates to the most important and responsible discipline of home education. Someone said: "Read about the fruit of the Holy Spirit from Gal.5:22-23 from back to front and you will see that where there is no temperance, everything else will have a sad appearance." And one can agree with this. The fruit of the Spirit is unique in that all its qualities are present in a person simultaneously and don't act in isolation from others.

The earlier parents begin to cultivate temperance in children, the easier it is for them to achieve this and the less effort they will have to apply in the future to correct existing vices. And if intemperance has become the norm of life and behavior, then correcting is always more difficult than creating something new.

A person who has tasted sin and lives according to the flesh is more inclined to repeat this action than one who has never encountered this. But for both, strength from above is needed to resist this evil and emerge victorious on the level of consciousness.

It's difficult to control a child's behavior and understand what he is taught if he grows and develops most of the time outside the family, in nurseries, in kindergarten, in boarding school, in school or in camp. And if these institutions are secular, then the loss of parental control over the child's upbringing for God is inevitable.

Temperance lessons begin with nutrition. As a rule, at the beginning of their lives, infants don't know and don't accept anything except mother's milk and somewhere in their minds a feeding schedule is developed, which they will never miss and won't tolerate delays. But the older the child becomes, the less often he needs to nurse, and then he has to completely give up this natural food.

Usually from 6 months, mama, in addition to milk or milk formula, begins to give complementary food. It shouldn't be done before 4 months, as the infant's digestive system is not yet developed. Though he will swallow everything, not everything will be beneficial.

Measure and time - this is what every mother should know. And this can change with the child's growth. Not all food pleases babies and they often refuse to take something inside. Here one should be extremely careful, as any replacement is immediately remembered by the child and he notes that if one refuses one thing, one can get something else. If the food was tasty and beneficial, then it shouldn't be replaced with something more exquisite, and the baby needs to be told that if he doesn't want to eat, then this is his choice and he will get nothing then.

If the mother gives the child a choice of what he wants, then it's important to determine the measure so that he doesn't overeat.

There should be no talk of any snacking. Taking food should be at a certain time and that's all. Between these events one can only drink water.

It's very important, when visiting church gatherings, to make sure that no candies from "kind" grandmothers get into the child's hands, as well as no food products from those mothers who think their child will die of hunger if he doesn't eat something during worship.

When preparing food at home, children are usually always somewhere nearby and, sensing familiar smells, may begin to whine for something for themselves. Mama needs to ask God for iron nerves and be fundamentally resistant to children's whining, firmly but with love explaining that everything has its time. It's difficult for a child to resist internal impulses of appetite and lusts, but mama's reasonable answer teaches him that in their home it's customary to abstain and he has to accept this. Any indulgence to childish whims in the area of appetite opens doors to intemperance and then correcting something built will be much more difficult.

Older children already begin to understand the essence of prohibitions and limitations and, when they receive logical explanation to this or that limitation, it's easy for them to cope with their passions and control their appetite.

The example of temperance of Daniel and his companions in Babylon teaches what blessings control in food brings. One can together with children compile a table of harmful, dangerous and beneficial things. This manual will help them orient themselves correctly in choosing the best.

Mothers shouldn't fear if a willful child misses a meal of beneficial food in the struggle for his rights to receive what he wants. Let the inflexibility of parental principles in nutrition be clear and visible to him comprehensively and unshakably.

To the question of the presence of sugar and sweets in your house on your table, one should approach much more seriously than it seems at first glance. This is the most powerful tool in the matter of intemperance in the hands of the enemy of the soul, with which he often destroys good eating habits and crosses out all the benefit of that good and proper food that managed to get into the stomach through tasting and thanksgiving. Even when a person has eaten and feels full, it's often very difficult for him to refuse sweet pie, exquisite cake or a piece of chocolate that is offered to him for dessert immediately after eating or after a short pause, together with tea or sweet drinks.

The stomach doesn't have a window to observe the fermentation that sugar and excess food causes, but any intemperance produces exactly this and forms dopamine dependence, which helps next time to wait with lust for repetition and accept the offered temptation with joy.

The momentary joy of a happy child who receives a portion of sweets isn't worth destroying the foundations of temperance for it and feeding one's child with what doesn't satisfy and brings no benefit.

Behind sugar and sweets stand more powerful dark forces of temptations than we imagine, and since this is familiar and pleasant to taste for us, it doesn't cause great concerns and is brought into the house as a "beneficial" food product.

As an alternative there are many natural fruits that contain natural sugars in natural form and with reasonable consumption bring invaluable benefit. May the Lord give wisdom to parents how to understand this question and not make distortions to one side or the other.

When you go to visit someone where they will feed you, or invite someone to your place for this purpose, then be sure to discuss who should bring what and how beneficial this will be for your children. It will be very ugly when everyone around will be consuming cakes and pastries, and you with your children will be reproaching their conscience with your temperance.

All questions of nutrition rules are very controversial when taken beyond your home world, therefore this shouldn't be made the main topic for conversation and if a conflict of opinions arises, then it's better not to prove your position, but do what protects you from evil and teaches temperance.

God has taken care to give much light in the area of temperance not only in nutrition, but also in other spheres of life. Through the Spirit of Prophecy we are given valuable recommendations in matters of food and drink and, following them, we will have success in this matter.

If a person's organism is healthy and works properly, not loading the nervous and digestive systems, then all other spiritual and mental processes proceed at the proper level and bring blessings. And a clear mind is much more valuable than exquisite or excessive food.

1. Please read 1Cor.6:13; 9:25; 10:31; Gal.5:22-23; Prov.23:1-2,20-21; 25:16,28; Rom.14:17; Phil.3:19; Ezek.16:49; Dan.1:12,15; Matt.4:4, in light of this chapter.

2. What other verses from the Bible came to your mind?

3. What did you understand from this chapter?

4. How does the absence of temperance affect the other fruits of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23)?

5. Why is correcting intemperance more difficult than cultivating temperance from childhood?

6. Why do temperance lessons begin with nutrition?

7. Why shouldn't beneficial food be replaced with more exquisite food at the child's desire?

8. Why are snacks between main meals harmful?

9. How should parents resist pressure from those around them giving children candies during gatherings?

10. How does the experience of Daniel and his friends in Babylon show the blessings of temperance in food?

11. Should one fear that a child will miss a meal due to capriciousness?

12. How do sugar and sweets destroy temperance skills?

13. What spiritual consequences can attachment to sweets have? 2Tim.3:4.

14. Why shouldn't one impose their position on nutrition on other people?