Drinking
My family recently heard some awful news. One of our old friends, an ex-girlfriend of my youngest brother to be more specific, was in a car accident last February.
She went to pick up a friend, who had been drinking, and was hit by a drunk driver. She is in her early 20’s and used to be a talented gymnast, good singer and a fine student. Now, she lies in a nursing home with the mind of an infant and completely dependent upon the care of others. It is difficult to imagine her in such a condition.
Her story is not the only heartbreaking tragedy connected to alcohol. I’ve had friends raped, beat up, hospitalized, in debt and jailed all because of alcohol. I’ve preached on Sunday and watched teenagers cry because their classmates had just died driving drunk the night before. This does not even touch the less shocking lies, fights, flirtations and other lapses of judgment that increase with every swig of the shot glass.
Despite these consequences, our culture and some “Christians” try to justify the consumption of “strong drink.” Maybe we have seen so many commercials with funny jokes and good-looking models holding onto a beer bottle that we are deceived into thinking alcohol is beneficial. Maybe the popularity of it leads us to believe God’s fine with it.
Yet, for me, I think of the pain of so many, their grief, the struggles they have faced due to alcohol. I think of my brother’s friend, in her early 20’s, missing part of her skull and bound to a nursing home for life. I wonder why they never show those pictures in beer commercials?
Our government and other programs spend millions trying to curb alcoholism. Some groups set up “designated driver” programs (didn’t work out too well in this situation did it?). Our healthcare system dedicates much of its time and resources to alcohol and drug-related problems. Yet, most of these groups fail to turn to God’s solution to the problem!
How much pain, expense and grief could we avoid if we would just abstain from drinking alcohol? “Do not look on the wine...at the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper” (Proverbs 23:31-32). That’s what God thinks about it. But, I guess some people think they have a better idea than God.
Think about it.
July 2008