A couple weeks ago we had a little discussion in small group about why getting drunk is wrong, or if it is. That got me thinking more about why I don’t drink. I decided that I would list my reasons here. Some are less serious than others, or less reasonable and they are not necessarily in order of importance. Comments are appreciated.
1. That’s how I grew up. In my upbringing it’s assumed that when a person becomes a Christian they will quit drinking (and smoking) and that people who do these things either are not Christians or are weak Christians. I was taught by implication that drinking is synonymous with sin, so it naturally goes against my conscience to drink, regardless that I’ve held the viewpoint that it’s not a sin to drink but a sin to get drunk.
2. I’m in a prominent position in a cross-denominational setting, which means there are a lot of people with varying viewpoints watching me. I do not want anyone, especially young people, to start drinking because "Debbie does it."
Romans 14 speaks about this well. "It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall." (v.21) I would rather not touch the stuff then to take advantage of the freedom I have in Christ to drink and help someone to their ruin by doing so.
3. Because of what I said in number two, besides causing people to stumble, I can give up drinking when there is the possibility that by drinking I could bring question to my position and ministry. In
1 Timothy 3:1-10 we find requirements given for overseers and deacons. Now, I’m obviously neither an overseer (or bishop) or a deacon, but I am in leadership and so I can take these requirements as beneficial for myself as well. Here is says that they should not be given to drunkenness or to much wine. (This does not mean any wine, but I’ll cover that later) I don’t want to be under question for something as unimportant to consume as alcohol.
4. To continue on this vein of how it affects others, causing others to fall or to question what I do in ministry, there is the element of what non Christians think. For some weird reason, as far as I’ve experienced, in North America, in general, non Christians think that Christians don’t drink. Why that is I don’t know well enough to discuss here. Is that legitimate or not? I don’t know. But I think of a person like Daniel. He was very influential in the government of his day.
People got jealous so they examined his life and job to see if they could find grounds to get him in trouble. "Finally these men said, ‘We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.’" (Daniel 6:5) I want to be like that. So that people have no grounds to dismiss what I have to say about Jesus except my faith.
5. Now, while alcohol in itself may not be wrong, getting drunk is. This suddenly made a lot more sense as I thought about this this past week. In our small group discussion I brought up that the last
fruit of the Spirit is self-control. When we’re drunk, we’re not in control, at least not fully. I followed that thought a little more and it struck me, why is it that when people are drunk it is always bad, sinful behaviour that comes out? It’s never godly behaviour. Why is that? Could it be that when we are drunk, and therefore lacking self-control, it is our natural selves that display themselves? It’s who we are apart from the grace of God? Paul often refers to the Christian life as a battle, a fight. There are many warnings throughout
Scripture to be alert and prepared. If we want to be godly and holy, or in common English "good", we need to be ready to fight all the time. There are a lot of ways that we can fail to be alert and fail to fight for joy and to be like Christ. But when we’re drunk, that completely goes out the window.
6. To bring this back to me: I don’t like the taste of alcohol. Anything I’ve tasted has not impressed me.
7. Tying number 5 and 6 together, although not liking the taste of alcohol takes away 90% of the temptation to drink, I don’t like coffee either. (Guess what I’m drinking right now?) I hated everything about coffee when I was little. The smell, the taste, everything. Then I started liking cappucino. Then I started drinking coffee with a LOT of sugar (ask anyone who I went to Bible school with) and cream, then I cut back on sugar right down to nothing. Then cut back on the cream until now, I’m drinking it black. I’ve been drinking at least a cup a day lately. Do I like it? More than I used to but there’s still times when I really don’t like it but like the idea of drinking it more than the actual beverage. What’s my point? The same thing could happen to me with alcohol and given my natural tendencies, I could easily become an alcoholic. So, today it might be sipping wine with a group of good friends, then a girly drink out with friends and on and on. It’s easier for me to just avoid it altogether rather than comfortable with it at varying degrees until I’m addicted.
8. Really, as I shared with a friend recently, it’s about realizing that God is the only satisfaction rather than going to alcohol as an escape or form of satisfaction. This point relates to way more than just drinking. This is where I feel convicted in this conversation and it is because of this that I cannot be judgemental to anyone who chooses to drink. I have my own escape routes too. Food is one. Sleep is another. Denial, entertainment, imagining…the list goes on. Oh to remember:
"All of You is more than enough for all of me, for every thirst and every need. You satisfy me with Your love and all I have in You is more than enough." We all have this problem so none can judge the other in order to feel superior. Rather we should be helping each other in the fight, knowing we need help as much as anyone else.
9. And finally, I enjoy the privilege of showing people that it is possible to have fun without alcohol. In fact, more fun because there’s no hang-over.
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