72 Bible Verses about Self Indulgence

Among whom we all at one time were living in the pleasures of our flesh, giving way to the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and the punishment of God was waiting for us even as for the rest.

But sin, taking its chance through that which was ordered by the law, was working in me every form of desire: because without the law sin is dead.

For such people are not servants of the Lord Christ, but of their stomachs; and by their smooth and well-said words the hearts of those who have no knowledge of evil are tricked.

For in the past we were foolish, hard in heart, turned from the true way, servants of evil desires and pleasures, living in bad feeling and envy, hated and hating one another.

But every man is tested when he is turned out of the right way by the attraction of his desire.

For with high-sounding false words, making use of the attraction of unclean desires of the flesh, they get into their power those newly made free from those who are living in error; Saying that they will be free, while they themselves are the servants of destruction; because whatever gets the better of a man makes a servant of him.

Because everything in the world, the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but of the world.

But if you have bitter envy in your heart and the desire to get the better of others, have no pride in this, talking falsely against what is true. This wisdom is not from heaven, but is of the earth and the flesh and the Evil One. For where envy is, and the desire to get the better of others, there is no order, but every sort of evil-doing.

He who keeps himself separate for his private purpose goes against all good sense.

Worship of images, use of strange powers, hates, fighting, desire for what another has, angry feelings, attempts to get the better of others, divisions, false teachings,

But those are preaching Christ in a spirit of competition, not from their hearts, but with the purpose of giving me pain in my prison.

Yes, the dogs are for ever looking for food; while these, the keepers of the sheep, are without wisdom: they have all gone after their pleasure, every one looking for profit; they are all the same. Come, they say, I will get wine, and we will take strong drink in full measure; and tomorrow will be like today, full of pleasure.

If such a man, hearing the words of this oath, takes comfort in the thought that he will have peace even if he goes on in the pride of his heart, taking whatever chance may give him:

What is the cause of wars and fighting among you? is it not in your desires which are at war in your bodies? You are burning with desire, and have not your desire, so you put men to death; you are full of envy, and you are not able to get your desire, so you are fighting and making war; you have not your desire, because you do not make request for it. You make your request but you do not get it, because your request has been wrongly made, desiring the thing only so that you may make use of it for your pleasure.

Now the works of the flesh are clear, which are these: evil desire, unclean things, wrong use of the senses,

And crying out to Lot, they said, Where are the men who came to your house this night? Send them out to us, so that we may take our pleasure with them.

Now when Israel was living in Shittim the people became false to the Lord, doing evil with the daughters of Moab:

Again, let us not give way to the desires of the flesh, as some of them did, of whom twenty-three thousand came to their end in one day.

Now one evening, David got up from his bed, and while he was walking on the roof of the king's house, he saw from there a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent to get knowledge who the woman was. And one said, Is this not Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite? And David sent and took her; and she came to him, and he took her to his bed: (for she had been made clean;) then she went back to her house.

And when she took them to give them to him, he put his arms round her and said, Come to bed, my sister. And answering him, she said, O my brother, do not put shame on me; it is not right for such a thing to be done in Israel: do not this evil thing. What will become of me in my shame? and as for you, you will be looked down on with disgust by all Israel. Now then, go and make your request to the king, for he will not keep me from you.read more.
But he would not give attention to what she said: but being stronger than she, he took her by force, and had connection with her.

My bed is covered with cushions of needlework, with coloured cloths of the cotton thread of Egypt; I have made my bed sweet with perfumes and spices. Come, let us take our pleasure in love till the morning, having joy in love's delights.

And that when I come again, my God may put me to shame among you, and I may have grief for those who have done wrong before and have had no regret for their unclean ways, and for the evil desires of the flesh to which they have given way.

Having eyes full of evil desire, never having enough of sin; turning feeble souls out of the true way; they are children of cursing, whose hearts are well used to bitter envy;

Your gold and your silver are wasted and their waste will be a witness against you, burning into your flesh. You have put by your store in the last days. See, the money which you falsely kept back from the workers cutting the grass in your field, is crying out against you; and the cries of those who took in your grain have come to the ears of the Lord of armies. You have been living delicately on earth and have taken your pleasure; you have made your hearts fat for a day of destruction.

When I saw among their goods a fair robe of Babylon and two hundred shekels of silver, and a mass of gold, fifty shekels in weight, I was overcome by desire and took them; and they are put away in the earth in my tent, and the silver is under it.

And his sons did not go in his ways, but moved by the love of money took rewards, and were not upright in judging.

But your eyes and your heart are fixed only on profit for yourself, on causing the death of him who has done no wrong, and on violent and cruel acts.

Is it a time for you to be living in roofed houses while this house is a waste?

By whom some families have been completely overturned; who take money for teaching things which are not right; these will have to be stopped.

But in place of these there was joy and delight, oxen and sheep were being made ready for food, there was feasting and drinking: men said, Now is the time for food and wine, for tomorrow death comes.

Do not be among those who give themselves to wine-drinking, or among those who make themselves full with meat:

Who having no more power of feeling, have given themselves up to evil passions, to do all unclean things with overmuch desire.

For this reason God gave them up to evil passions, and their women were changing the natural use into one which is unnatural: And in the same way the men gave up the natural use of the woman and were burning in their desire for one another, men doing shame with men, and getting in their bodies the right reward of their evil-doing. And because they had not the mind to keep God in their knowledge, God gave them up to an evil mind, to do those things which are not right;read more.
Being full of all wrongdoing, evil, desire for the goods of others, hate, envy, putting to death, fighting, deceit, cruel ways, evil talk, and false statements about others; Hated by God, full of pride, without respect, full of loud talk, given to evil inventions, not honouring father or mother, Without knowledge, not true to their undertakings, unkind, having no mercy:

But be certain of this, that in the last days times of trouble will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, uplifted in pride, given to bitter words, going against the authority of their fathers, never giving praise, having no religion, Without natural love, bitter haters, saying evil of others, violent and uncontrolled, hating all good,read more.
False to their friends, acting without thought, lifted up in mind, loving pleasure more than God;

And he said, This I will do: I will take down my store-houses and make greater ones, and there I will put all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have a great amount of goods in store, enough for a number of years; be at rest, take food and wine and be happy. But God said to him, You foolish one, tonight I will take your soul from you, and who then will be the owner of all the things which you have got together?read more.
So that is what comes to the man who gets wealth for himself, and has not wealth in the eyes of God.

The lover of pleasure will be a poor man: the lover of wine and oil will not get wealth.

For a loose woman is looking for a cake of bread, but another man's wife goes after one's very life.

For those who take delight in drink and feasting will come to be in need; and through love of sleep a man will be poorly clothed

And not long after, the younger son got together everything which was his and took a journey into a far-away country, and there all his money went in foolish living. And when everything was gone, there was no food to be had in that country, and he was in need. And he went and put himself into the hands of one of the people of that country, and he sent him into his fields to give the pigs their food.read more.
And so great was his need that he would have been glad to take the pigs' food, and no one gave him anything.

But she who gives herself to pleasure is dead while she is living.

But to those who, from a love of competition, are not guided by what is true, will come the heat of his wrath,

Why let yourself, my son, go out of the way with a strange woman, and take another woman in your arms? For a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he puts all his goings in the scales.

Whose end is destruction, whose god is the stomach, and whose glory is in their shame, whose minds are fixed on the things of the earth.

At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of his great house in Babylon. The king made answer and said, Is this not great Babylon, which I have made for the living-place of kings, by the strength of my power and for the glory of my honour? While the word was still in the king's mouth, a voice came down from heaven, saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is said: The kingdom has gone from you:read more.
And they will send you out from among men, to be with the beasts of the field; they will give you grass for your food like the oxen, and seven times will go by you, till you are certain that the Most High is ruler in the kingdom of men, and gives it to any man at his pleasure.

Give ear to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are in the hill of Samaria, by whom the poor are kept down, and those in need are crushed; who say to their lords, Get out the wine and give us drink. The Lord God has taken an oath by his holy name, that the days are coming when they will take you away with hooks, and the rest of you with fish-hooks.

Who are resting on beds of ivory, stretched out on soft seats, feasting on lambs from the flock and young oxen from the cattle-house; Making foolish songs to the sound of corded instruments, and designing for themselves instruments of music, like David; Drinking wine in basins, rubbing themselves with the best oils; but they have no grief for the destruction of Joseph.read more.
So now they will go away prisoners with the first of those who are made prisoners, and the loud cry of those who were stretched out will come to an end.

And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have a great amount of goods in store, enough for a number of years; be at rest, take food and wine and be happy. But God said to him, You foolish one, tonight I will take your soul from you, and who then will be the owner of all the things which you have got together?

A curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! for you make clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of violent behaviour and uncontrolled desire.

And let not your behaviour be like that of this world, but be changed and made new in mind, so that by experience you may have knowledge of the good and pleasing and complete purpose of God.

Which say there may be no touching, tasting, or taking in your hands, (Rules which are all to come to an end with their use) after the orders and teaching of men? These things seem to have a sort of wisdom in self-ordered worship and making little of oneself, and being cruel to the body, not honouring it by giving it its natural use.

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not give thought to the flesh to do its desires.

And those who are Christ's have put to death on the cross the flesh with its passions and its evil desires.

For the grace of God has come, giving salvation to all men, Training us so that, turning away from evil and the desires of this world, we may be living wisely and uprightly in the knowledge of God in this present life;

For those who are living in the way of the flesh give their minds to the things of the flesh, but those who go in the way of the Spirit, to the things of the Spirit.

But I say, Go on in the Spirit, and you will not come under the rule of the evil desires of the flesh.

Let my heart be turned to your unchanging word, and not to evil desire.

Like children ruled by God, do not go back to the old desires of the time when you were without knowledge:

So that you may give the rest of your lives in the flesh, not to the desires of men, but to the purpose of God.

For the purpose of God for you is this: that you may be holy, and may keep yourselves from the desires of the flesh; So that every one of you may keep his body holy and in honour; Not in the passion of evil desires, like the Gentiles, who have no knowledge of God;

Take no care to get wealth; let there be an end to your desire for money

And every man who takes part in the sports has self-control in all things. Now they do it to get a crown which is of this world, but we for an eternal crown. So then I am running, not uncertainly; so I am fighting, not as one who gives blows in the air: But I give blows to my body, and keep it under control, for fear that, after having given the good news to others, I myself might not have God's approval.

But the end of all things is near: so be serious in your behaviour and keep on the watch with prayer;

And self-control to knowledge, and a quiet mind to self-control, and fear of God to a quiet mind,

Then put to death your bodies which are of the earth; wrong use of the flesh, unclean things, passion, evil desires and envy, which is the worship of strange gods;

And Daniel had come to the decision that he would not make himself unclean with the king's food or wine; so he made a request to the captain of the unsexed servants that he might not make himself unclean.

But I say to you that everyone whose eyes are turned on a woman with desire has had connection with her in his heart. And if your right eye is a cause of trouble to you, take it out and put it away from you; because it is better to undergo the loss of one part, than for all your body to go into hell.

My loved ones, I make this request with all my heart, that, as those for whom this world is a strange country, you will keep yourselves from the desires of the flesh which make war against the soul;

Because you, brothers, were marked out to be free; only do not make use of your free condition to give the flesh its chance, but through love be servants one to another.

We are free to do all things, but there are things which it is not wise to do. We are free to do all things, but not all things are for the common good. Let a man give attention not only to what is good for himself, but equally to his neighbour's good.

Doing nothing through envy or through pride, but with low thoughts of self let everyone take others to be better than himself; Not looking everyone to his private good, but keeping in mind the things of others.

If in any of your towns in the land which the Lord your God is giving you, there is a poor man, one of your countrymen, do not let your heart be hard or your hand shut to him; But let your hand be open to give him the use of whatever he is in need of.

And Zacchaeus, waiting before him, said to the Lord, See, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from anyone wrongly, I give him back four times as much.