October 5 - Alcohol in Moderation

      Proverbs 20:1 - " Wine is a mocker and beer, a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise." NIV, ©1973

       I am still amazed at the number of adults who are ready to encourage minors in their consumption of alcohol, as soon as the minor turns 21 years old - as if the "green thumb" has been somehow missing out all of their youth on something incredible! At a recent OctoberFest at my place of employment, I noticed this firsthand, when an adult tried to get a fellow employee to have a beer after work. This fellow employee was still a minor, so she naturally declined. However, after having a short conversation with her, and after seeing her birthday note on the work calendar (Sheila's 21st Birthday - October 19 - Finally!), I realized that she had already tasted alcohol and couldn't wait for more, in a legal fashion. This youth actually had the gall to tell me (at 52 years old) that one actually had to learn to like the taste of beer - as if she had experiential knowledge of this (at 20 years old)!

       I am certainly not against legal adults drinking alcohol. I am not a teetotaler; the Bible is not against drinking alcohol. However, like anything else, we need to ask ourselves why we engage in our behaviors. There are really only two uses for alcoholic beverages - nutritional and drug-related. The former enhances health in the body in a natural way because it is related to moderate usage that does not affect the mind in a radical way. The latter is simply to alter the mood of an individual, either to "take off the edge" or to invite an unnatural euphoria. I will not argue for one wanting to take off the edge to reduce stress, but when alcohol is used to alter one's state of mind, it might as well just be heroine or cocaine!

       Either way, it is moderation, control, and motivation that is in question. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 6:12: "Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial. I will not be mastered by anything. Food for the stomach, and the stomach for food, but God will destroy them both." The key words are "I will not be mastered by anything". He was wise in using the natural things in life, by not letting them get the best of him. Furthermore, he tells us later on in chapter 10:31, "So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God". This is why we drink or do not drink. The importance is the "why". Let us please God even in the way we drink.

October 1 - Love Not The World - Part 1

        Romans 12:2 - "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing, and perfect will."

        1 John 2:12 - "Do not love the world or anything in the world...."

        The "world" in biblical language is synonymous with "the nations" in the Old Testament. It is analogous of the peoples who were not God's chosen nation. Under the New Covenant, that would be pagans, unbelievers, those who have not been "born again", those who are not in God's family.

        Conforming to a pattern means fitting into the mold, doing exactly as expected. Paul commands us in Romans to no longer slide so easily into that pattern of the world - how they act, think, and react. He then commands us to change. How? By changing the way we think. That change can only come when we start soaking in God's word. That probably means spending less time watching frivolous movies, less time listening to unproductive lyrical music, and less wasted time on the Internet. Do we want to know and walk in God's pleasing and perfect will? Then we need to find out what it is - purposefully. 

       Shortly after becoming a Christian at age 14, I sensed the Holy Spirit calling me to quit listening to the world's music. Two years prior, I had been turned on to current pop music on the radio, because the music sounded really cool. I learned to sing right along with the recorded vocalist, because I was passionate about the songs. When I learned that there were Christians performing music using genres that I liked, and using themes that brought glory to God and his ways, there was no longer any reason to listen to what the world produced. Now, after many years of finding what God's general will for living is, I can pick and choose some of the world's music that sounds good, because those filtered songs have lyrics that are spiritually insightful, have a nugget of truth, and/or are neutral enough, that one could fit them into a biblical worldview. The rest of the world's lyrical music (99%) still gets purposefully ignored.

 

        1 Peter 2:9-11 calls us "a chosen people, a holy nation, a people belonging to God....aliens and strangers in the world, abstain[ing] from sinful desires". As Jesus said, since we are not "of the world, but still in it", we should not act like it. As we grow into that transformation, we will learn how to test what is God's good will for us, a will that is seeking to lead us into beneficial things, not just things that we think will make us feel good. So, let us make every effort to be in a constant state of transformation, seeking to please God.