Sunday – Poetry

Reading – Proverbs 22-23

Highlight Verses:

“Don’t gaze at the wine, seeing how red it is, how it sparkles in the cup, how smoothly it goes down. For in the end it bites like a poisonous snake; it stings like a viper.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭23‬:‭31‬-‭32‬ ‭NLT‬‬

It’s no secret that I don’t like alcohol.

I have tasted it and had whole glasses of wine in the distant past.

But it always makes me think of the bad things that my dad did when he was drunk.

He was a very nice, likable person when he was sober.

But I won’t even speak of the things he would do when he was drunk.

In the end, the alcohol (and tobacco smoke) had done such damage to his body that he was unable to fight the cancer that took his life.

He was just 3 years older than I am now when he passed and left a legacy of pain and poverty.

Ultimately, the guilt of his actions kept him from accepting forgiveness from the God whom he finally recognized must exist.

I still hold out hope that the Gospel that I and others presented to him may have broken through in the end, though I will not know this side of heaven.

What I do know is that I have a very similar personality to his and if I were to start drinking, it is very possible that I would end up on that same path.

The Bible does not tell us to never drink alcohol.

But it does tell us not to pursue it or to get drunk.

I will never judge you for drinking.

But I will advise you to use great caution when it comes to alcohol or anything with similar effects.

And if it affects you adversely, well, I think you know what I would say.

Are you one who, like me, avoids alcohol? Why or why not?
If you drink, how are you checking the effects of it on you and those around you?