And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. – 1 Corinthians 9:25, KJV

In Matthew 6:20, Christ admonished us to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven. One such treasure is the incorruptible crown, which He awards for those who exercise self-control in their daily walk.

Merriam Webster’s Dictionary defines “gluttony” as “greedy or excessive indulgence.” Excessive indulgence can hurt your pocketbook, your health, and your relationships with God and with other people. Whether you spend too much, eat too much, watch too much TV, or do anything “too much,” gluttony – which Proverbs 25:28 defines as “having no rule over your own spirit” – will destroy your strongholds and leave you as vulnerable as a city without defenses.

When we are standing at the judgment seat, God will reward us – or not – for how well we resisted our base, human passions. Be warned: victory over our passions is not automatic. As 1 and 2 Corinthians both teach us, Christians can be ruled by their passions just like anybody else. So, how do we rule our passions rather than have them rule over us? As with all things with the Christian walk, we must rely on God’s super-nature to override our human nature, and we can only do that by asking God to rescue us from our temptations. When we pray to God to rescue us at the very moment the temptation strikes, He will give us a way of escape. If we hesitate to ask God for help, trying instead to resist temptation in our human power, we will fail.

Want to earn the incorruptible crown? Pray without ceasing. It’s the only way to earn one of God’s greatest rewards.