Self-indulgence, meaning, examples, effects, etc

Table of Content

In times past, God consecrated the descendants of Aaron to serve as priests. However, God commanded Aaron that no man of his descendants who is blind or lame, or has a mutilated face or a limb too long, or has an injured foot or an injured hand, or is a hunchback or a dwarf or has a defect in his sight or has an itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles, should not be allowed to serve as a priest.  (Le 21:17-21).   Because of this condition, some people born into the priestly family were disqualified from serving as priests because they have deformities.

In this New Testament era, Christians are the ones reckoned as priests before God. The Apostle Peter was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write this about Christians: ‘But ye [Christians] are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: (1 Peter 2:9).’

In times past, it was physical deformities that disqualify a descendant of Aaron from being a priest, however, in this Christian era, self-indulgence is one of the things which can disqualify a Christian from being reckoned by God as a true Christian.

In the days when Jesus personally ministered on this earth, He made it plain and left no space for ambiguity about who His disciples were. He made the Jews understand that anyone who believed in Him and obeys His word is His true disciple. At another time, Jesus called to Himself His disciples, those who believe and obey Him, and said to them:

  • If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. (Luke 9:23; Mark 8:34)
  • …. whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:27)
  • And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. (Matthew 10:38)

To put it briefly, Jesus Christ told those who were His disciples that, to continue to be His disciples, each of them would have to deny himself or bear his cross and follow Him – where deny himself and bear his cross cumulate to self-denial. Self-denial is the willingness to part with our own egotism, earthly comforts, and pleasures for the sake of following Christ. The opposite of self-denial is self-indulgence.

What is self-indulgence?

Self-indulgence is the act of satisfying one’s desires, pleasures, lusts, and whims, especially without restraint. In other words, it is the practice of having or doing anything that you like or enjoy, often somethings that you should not have or do.

Self-indulgence comes in all kinds. It ranges from unhealthy, excessive eating habit to giving one’s self to immoral deeds so as to satisfy one’s desires, pleasures, or lusts. The effects of some of our indulgences go to the point of destroying our good health or destroying our relationship with other people, and still, some of our indulgences pose a threat to our relationship with God.   

Self-indulgence in the Bible

Self-indulgence has been part and parcel of man from times past. In the Bible, self-indulgence is referred to us:

  • Fulfilling the lusts of the flesh, Romans 13:14, Galatians 5:16
  • Living in the flesh, 1 Peter 4:2 
  • Satisfying the flesh, Colossians 2:23
  • Being in the flesh, Romans 8:8
  • Walking after the flesh, 2 Peter 2:10  
  • living after the flesh, Romans 8:13

Self-indulgence was the way in which we led our lives before conversion to Christianity. Before conversion, our lives were characterized by gratifying our sinful desires, partaking in sinful activities that give us pleasure and satisfaction, and doing whatever seemed right in our sight.

Whiles still living in self-indulgence, we heard the gospel, believed it, and converted to Christianity. Now having converted to Christianity and following Jesus, God expects us to replace self-indulgence (our old way) with bearing fruit (the purpose of your calling) – where bearing fruit is applying the word of God in one’s life to produce good works such as love, patience, modesty, self-control, etc. All the deeds of godliness are constituted in bearing fruit, including self-denial, which is the opposite of self-indulgence.

However, in today’s Christianity, self-indulgence has become a subject of discussion because of the many evidences of Christians living in self-indulgence and cannot let go of their worldly passions, lusts, and desire for alcoholism, fornication, worldly music, masturbation, hard drugs, pornography, hooliganism, lustful thinking, etc.

Self-indulgence is a sin

If a man is living to satisfy his desires or lusts or pleasures, then his life will be habitually sinful all the time. In fact, we see that people who live in self-indulgence cannot live clean, for they habitually practice gross acts of sin. Actually, the Bible offers an explanation as to why it is so. Bible teaches that we human beings have a sinful nature; that is, our bodies crave for things that are sinful; things that contradicts the desires of God; hence Paul wrote,

“For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, …. (Galatians 5:17 ESV)”

“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. ….. (Romans 7:18 ESV)”

Since as human beings, our desires are contrary to that of the Holy Spirit, you can be very sure that our desires constitute all manner of unrighteousness. And if we live our lives in self-indulgence, which is satisfying our desires, we will be living in habitual sin, practicing gross sins continually to displease God. 

Examples of self-indulgence

Generally, any bad deed that you enjoy practicing is your indulgence. Said differently, self-indulgence is having or practicing anything that gives you pleasure but is sinful in the sight of God. Examples of self-indulgence are practicing extravagance, vindictiveness, fornication, alcoholism, adultery, lasciviousness, violence, being litigious, looking at the opposite sex lustfully, etc. See Galatians 5:19 and 1 Corinthians 6:9 for more. 

Am I guilty of self-indulgence?

If you are living in self-indulgence, you should know it. In a situation where your life is hooked on satisfying your desires with little or no consideration for the word of God and your life drift toward doing things that appear good in your own sight, you are living in self-indulgence.

In a situation where one is living in self-indulgence, sins such as looking at the opposite sex lustfully, fornication, watching pornography, extravagance, greed, vindictiveness, being unforgiving, etc. are common in his life. Some professing Christians make their indulgences more shameful; e.g., some professing Christians quaff just before they turn up for church service and you can easily make them out because there is the smell of alcohol on their breath.  

Effects or consequences of self-indulgence

We have already mentioned that self-indulgence is also referred to as being in the flesh, living after the flesh, etc. The Bible categorically mentions that all those who live according to the flesh, both professing Christians and unbelievers, cannot please God. Romans 8:8.  

If Jesus says you cannot be his disciples until you deny yourself, then self-denial is all necessary if you want to follow Jesus. Since self-denial is the opposite of self-indulgence, every Christian has two options here; a Christian has to either forgo his self-indulgence to continue to be Jesus’ disciple or hold on to his self-indulgence and forfeit his relationship with Jesus. And if you hold to your self-indulgence to forfeit your relationship with Christ, you have committed apostasy.

Eventually, some Christian converts, unwilling to let go of their indulgences, do not find Christianity convenient anymore. Hence they abandon the faith completely and stop attending church service. There are others who forgo self-indulgence so as to continue to be Christians and disciples of Jesus Christ. There are still other Christians who neither let go of their self-indulgence nor leave the church; better said, they hold fast to their self-indulgences and still profess to be Christians, playing a double game.

Jesus has a way of dealing with such Christians who play a double game. Once Jesus said to the Christians in Ephesus, “… If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. (Re 2:5)”. Then Jesus also said to the Christian in Laodicea, “… because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. (Re 3:16).” Jesus is saying the same thing to any Christian who is practicing self-indulgence. If he does not repent, He Jesus will remove that Christian’s lampstand and or vomit that Christian out of his mouth; meaning that He Jesus will no longer reckon such a Christian as one of His followers.

Self-indulgence, which is satisfying our own sinful desires, lusts, and pleasures, is a sin against God. And as all Bible readers know, sin has been the age-old factor that ruins man’s relationship with God. Therefore, we can be sure that if we live our Christian lives in self-indulgence, we become habitually sinful and our sins will ruin our relationship with God just like how sin ruined Adam and Eve’s relationship with God. And in a situation where our relationship with God is destroyed then apostasy has happened in our lives. It is written,

“For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live (Romans 8:13 ESV)”.

Self-indulgence, which is gratifying our sinful desires, will eventually end in spiritual death – where spiritual death refers to separation from God – apostasy.

As a Christian, what should I do if I am living in self-indulgence

Repent from all your indulgences. Once Jesus told the Christians in Ephesus who were going wayward, saying, “….. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent … (Re 2:5)” Jesus is saying the same to any Christian who is practicing self-indulgence. Jesus says, “Repent!”

After having repented from your self-indulgence, pray to God, admit your faults and humbly ask for forgiveness of sins; for the Bible says that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). 

You have to make a decision. God has given you the Holy Spirit and the Bible to teach you His ways. All that is left is for you to make the decision backed by a strong will that you will not indulge in your sinful pleasures, lusts, and desires again. Rather, live in obedience to God’s word to bear fruit to please God.

In a bid to desist from self-indulgence, commit yourself to daily prayers and daily Bible study, for these spiritual habits are necessary and will empower you more and more to desist from self-indulgence.

Lastly, in a bid to desist from self-indulgence, if you fall, do not give up. Be resilient! Recover fast! Rise up! And continue to resist the temptation that leads to self-indulgence.

How to prevent or avoid self-indulgence.

Self-indulgence is a practice – a practice of doing something to satisfy one’s sinful desires. Therefore the solution to self-indulgence should be something that will help the individual to desist from practicing his sinful desires. What has God made available to Christians to help them desist from self-indulgence?

God’s provision

God has given Christians His Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit has also given Christians self-control, and self-control is the ability to control one’s emotions and desires, especially in difficult situations or during temptation. It is written – “for the Spirit that God has given us does not make us timid; instead, his Spirit fills us with power, love, and self-control (2 Timothy 1:7 GNT).”

In addition to His Holy Spirit, God has given us His word so that we would know His ways or his standard of holiness. The Bible says, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and light unto my path (Psalm 119:105).” The word of God makes it plain to us what God desires of us so that we can do it to His pleasure.

Man’s responsibility

Christians have a role to play in the quest to deal with the problem of self-indulgence. He has to make use of the provisions God has made to reach his target of desisting from self-indulgence.

The Christian needs to understand what accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior means. When an unbeliever says the sinner’s prayer to accept Jesus, he surrenders himself, his life, to Jesus, making Him the Lord God and Savior of his life. As Christians, how is Jesus much of a God in our lives if we are living in self-indulgences. In other words, if we relegate the word of God to the background and follow our own pleasures, desires, and lusts, how does that make Christ our Lord. If you are honest about your own confession that you are a Christian, then understand that you have to accept and obey God’s word over your own desires and pleasures.

After having understood the meaning of accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, the next step is bearing fruit – where bearing fruit is simply applying biblical teachings in your life to produce good deeds. Bearing fruit is a service God earnestly expects you to render to Him. If you are bearing fruit, then you are fulfilling all that God requires of you and you are pleasing God.  As part of bearing fruit, you need to study the Bible. Where there is no light you can hardly differentiate between two colors. In the ignorance of the word of God, a Christian is indifferent about sin; that which is sinful in the eyes of God does not appear to be much of a sin in his eyes simply because he does not know the word of God. Make it a point to study the Bible daily, for the knowledge of the word of God is your only means to differential right from wrong; and having been able to identify what is right, you can practices it so as to desist from your own indulgences.

When Jesus was teaching His disciples how to pray, he said, “… and lead us not into temptation…” Mind you, temptation is those things that entice us to do something bad to gratify our desires, lusts or pleasures. Jesus, therefore, taught His disciples to pray for Divine help against the temptation which leads to self-indulgence. God will keep strengthening every prayerful Christian to continue to desist from self-indulgence.

Conclusion

Unlike the descendant of Aaron, we Christians serve and minister before God as royal priests whether or not we have physical deformities. What rather disqualifies a Christian is self-indulgence; hence self-indulgence is one of the paths to apostasy.

Food for thought

  • Why is it wrong to be self-indulgent?
  • Does self-indulgence have a negative impact on a Christian’s salvation?
  • How would you avoid self-indulgence?
  • How would you help a fellow Christian who is living in self-indulgence to desist from it?
Tagged .