Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; slaughter and eat!” – Acts 10:13
It is so easy for us to fall into a pharisaical practice of looking at a rule that God gave us and then making other rules so we do not break God’s rule. However, we have a habit of then treating these new, manmade rules as the rule God created. This was the folly of the pharisees and even, briefly, Peter. The context for the above verse is Peter having a dream in which God commands him to kill and eat, Peter refuses, and so God then rebukes him saying, “do not call unclean what I have made clean” (Acts 10:15). God gives us rules that we should not break; however, so long as you do not cross the line, you are free get as close as you want. I would even argue that it is sinful to create these extra rules, at least if you begin to teach them as God’s own rules.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the issue of overindulgence. This is when God gives a rule, and says that something is good, but then we begin to take advantage of God’s rule, abuse it, and ultimately disobey it. This issue tends to plague churches that focus too much on one or two of God’s commands, but do not give equal weight to all of them, especially the ones that are only mentioned once or twice, and among heathens.
So, then, what is the balance? Temperance. Temperance is the virtue of knowing that God has ordained something as good and has allowed us to partake in it in accordance with His will. It is an important virtue, because without it, we are at risk of becoming either bitter with God, much like the son that stayed with the father in the parable of the prodigal son, or live in rebellion against God, like the prodigal son did up until repentance.
Therefore, we must strive to remember the joys that God has given us, and to partake in them freely, so long as we are not abusing His grace in our life.
If men will not be governed by the Ten Commandments, they shall be governed by the ten thousand commandments —G. K. Chesterton