"Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from
fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." I Pet. 2:11. Any indulgence of
the flesh weakens the spiritual powers. The question might arise, "What
are fleshly lusts?" We are here in the flesh. The flesh has not only its
desires but its needs. To indulge the flesh in its needs is not fleshly
lust, but to indulge it in any thing beyond its actual needs is "fleshly
lusts." In other words, any intemperance is lust of the flesh. Temperance
is a fruit of the Spirit. We are to add temperance to our knowledge. The
more knowledge we get of the divine character, the more clearly we can
discriminate between fleshly lusts and temperance.
"I keep my body under, and bring it into subjection," says the apostle
Paul. He spoke these words when talking about running to obtain an
incorruptible crown. He calls our attention to how people run to obtain a
corruptible crown, "and every man." he says, "that striveth for the
mastery
is temperate in all things." If men must be temperate in
all things in order to obtain a corruptible crown, how much more temperate
must we be in order to obtain an incorruptible crown? If the soul does not
keep the body under, the body will keep the soul under.
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