Elder Kent D. Watson: 'Being temperate in all things'

Elder Kent D. Watson of the Seventy used the Lord's mandate in Doctrine and Covenants 12:8 that His servants be "temperate in all things" as the basis for an address delivered during the Saturday afternoon session of general conference.

"The instruction on being temperate in all things applies to each of us," he said. "What is temperance and why would the Lord want us to be temperate? A narrow definition might be exercising restraint when it comes to food and drink. … Sometimes temperance might be defined as refraining from anger, or not losing one's temper. These definitions, however, are a subset of the scriptural usage of the word.

"In a spiritual sense, temperance is a divine attribute of Jesus Christ. He desires for each of us to develop this attribute. Learning to be temperate in all things is a spiritual gift available through the Holy Ghost."

In order to provide a practical illustration of temperance, Elder Watson told of a car accident he was involved in a few years ago. While driving home from work, a bouncing tire that had flown off of an oncoming semi-truck impacted his windshield head-on at high speed. Although he was covered with beads of broken glass, he didn't suffer a single scratch because the windshield on his car had been constructed using tempered glass.

"Tempered glass, like tempered steel, undergoes a well-controlled heating process which increases strength," Elder Watson said. "Thus, when tempered glass is under stress, it will not easily break into jagged shards that can injure.

"Likewise, a temperate soul — one who is humble and full of love — is also a person of increased spiritual strength. With increased spiritual strength, we are able to develop self-mastery and to live with moderation. We learn to control or temper our anger, vanity, and pride. With increased spiritual strength we can protect ourselves from dangerous excesses and destructive addictions of today's world."

Watch video of this talk and other conference talks at ksl.com