Sober And Safe

Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler;whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

Proverbs 20:1 (NIV)

Augustine once said, “Drunkenness is a flattering devil, a sweet poison, a pleasant sin; whoever has it, has not himself.”

First of all, I want to say I’m not a legalist regarding alcohol. I know many Christians drink a glass of wine with meals and never have even a small problem. But, on the other hand, 1 Corinthians 8:9 says, “Beware lest somehow this liberty of yours becomes a stumbling block to those who are weak” (NKJV).

So I’ll share just a couple of reasons that my husband and I have chosen not to include alcohol in our lives for the sake of others.

• Children. You never know if one of your children or their friends or your grandchildren will see your small liberty as a big endorsement. My parents had a well-stocked liquor cabinet. As a teen, one of my friends talked me into taking some out of each bottle and watering it down. It was easy, and I liked it. It wasn’t long before we were drinking away from home.
• Others are watching, needing a role model. I once sat in the bar area of a restaurant with my sister drinking a Coke. The entire time I wondered if some little gal from Bible study would see me, think I was drinking, and be disappointed because someone in her life had ruined her life by drinking, or that she would be weakened in her resolve to stay out of the bars herself. To me, some liberties are just not worth the risk.

Make It Personal . . . Live It Out!

Is God spoiling your fun when he warns against drinking? Here are some sobering statistics. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, alcohol abuse killed an average of some eighty thousand Americans each year from 2001 to 2005 (the most recent report available), shortening the lives of these people by an average of thirty years. An average of thirty-six thousand people died each year from cirrhosis of the liver and other alcohol-related conditions, while forty-three thousand died in accidents. Because of alcohol, children grow up in poverty and abuse, marriages are ruined, and lives left in shambles.

Are you a closet drinker? Has it created a loss or danger? Will you pray and ask the Lord to lead you to help and to freedom?

One Year Bible Reading

2 Chronicles 14:1–16:14; Romans 9:1-24; Psalm 19:1-14; Proverbs 20:1