Why I don't drink

With New Year’s Celebrations looming and alcohol consumption rising I thought I would share with you six reasons why I don’t drink alcohol.

We can all agree that the Bible speaks against getting drunk (Ephesians 5:18) but I believe abstaining from consuming alcohol is a matter of wisdom. Here are my six reasons:

1.      It doesn’t take much alcohol to become intoxicated.

For many people all it takes is a very small amount and they are intoxicated. That’s why trying to define what “getting drunk” really is can be very difficult. Just a small amount can dramatically impair physical and mental abilities of certain individuals. That can also be easily manipulated by how much/little an individual has had to eat. So I just don't drink.

2.      There are plenty of other choices.

Some justify drinking by saying, “Well Jesus and the disciples drank wine. And Jesus turned water into wine.” This view needs to consider that the choices for drink in the first century were very limited. Sometimes the choice was only between rancid water or wine. In our day there are numerous viable, less-dangerous choices at our discretion.

3.      Alcoholic beverages are not necessary for medicinal purposes anymore.

In the first century and earlier alcoholic beverages were used to help individuals for many ailments. But in our time there are many available medicines that can help with precision any ailment. So the idea that I must drink alcohol to help me medicinally is just not that strong of an argument.

4.      Alcoholic beverages are addictive.

Many studies have shown the addictive nature of alcoholic beverages. I know my own personal propensity toward addiction and I most certainly don't need to tempt this arena in my life.

5.      I don’t want to set a bad example.

What I choose to do in moderation my children or others might do in excess. Even though this is a danger with any behavior, given the destructive nature of alcohol consumption I choose to not partake.

6.      It hinders your witness.

As I already stated in setting a bad example, I must be cognizant of the witness I am portraying to others. In all honesty, if people in the community or the church that I served saw me and my wife sitting at a bar drinking, it would have a very bad effect on the lives of others.

Not drinking alcohol is a wise choice. I am not saying that one should never drink alcohol…but I am dictating why my wife and I choose not to drink. We do not want our mental faculties to be impaired at any level. We always want the freedom to make sober judgment.

As an anecdote, almost every horrible ministry situation I have been involved with where there were broken relationships or a fractured family…without exception, alcohol was involved in the process somewhere along the way.

The apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:12, “Everything is permissible for me"-but not everything is beneficial.” Can a Christian drink? Sure. Is it beneficial to do so? My conclusion is that it is not. Paul also tells us, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Maybe this New Year ahead might be a great time for you to choose the wise path and to not drink alcohol anymore.

What's going on with our Bible Colleges?

I’m not a mega-church pastor. So take what I say with a grain of salt. I don’t speak to tens of thousands each weekend. I speak to a faithful flock of under 200. I have stood in the same pulpit for over 800 Sundays. In that time frame I have come to some conclusions that I know are echoed by some of my other colleagues in ministry as well. 

It seems that our Bible Colleges have lost touch with churches like mine. You see our basic problem is we are a church of under 200. That’s it in a nutshell. We don’t have much to offer apparently. 

We don’t have a phone book full of ministry options for people. We don’t have staff that equal the size of our church. We don’t have a worship band that cranks out CD’s that we sell in our in-house bookstore.

You see, we are who we are. And the dirty little secret is, we like it that way. But as far as our Bible Colleges go, it would seem, we are definitely the type of church to avoid. In fact, as horrible as this sounds, we have become very comfortable in our own skin. You see, we don’t want to be a church led by Rick Warren or Craig Groeschel. We just want to be who we are…warts and all.

Now every Bible College President would probably put his hand on my shoulder and let me know how off-base I am. He would assure me that my assessment is not an accurate reflection of what is happening in our colleges in relationship to the church. But I can’t shake what I am seeing and hearing.

It would seem that many of our colleges are more concerned with being in step with the progressive tendencies of our culture that they have little time to properly focus on the fact that the majority of our churches in America are just like mine…under 200 in attendance. It is almost as if you would think the message being received by students in our colleges these days is if a church is under 200 the only thing it is good for is to help you get to a bigger and better church.

Which is another issue I have noticed over the years, there is an entitlement mentality amongst our Bible College graduates that runs counter to the servant spirit required to do practical ministry. Many of the young people entering ministry are more focused on what the church can do for them than what they can do for the church.

There are so many young people graduating with a fractured focus of ministry (youth, small group coordinator, children’s, worship, etc…) that they have adopted a “that’s not my job” mentality and heart. Sometimes a clogged toilet just needs to be unclogged. It could care less about your degree focus.

I have a friend who served an area church in Iowa that decided for budgetary concerns and a growing need with their young families that their current youth minister would need to focus on children’s ministry as well as youth ministry. Which translated practically into him overseeing the Jr. Church program and making sure that children’s Sunday School classes were properly facilitated and had good curriculum. This young man quit his job in protest rather than help pick up slack in a needed area of ministry.

I have had similar experiences as well. We have had young men serve as youth minister with this very same “what’s in it for me?” mentality. And the church is no better off.

Increasingly this is the product that is being turned out of our Bible Colleges. I understand much of what I have said is anecdotal but my experience keeps being echoed in my ears from so many of my colleagues. There is a problem. And there is a disconnect in what is needed in our churches and what our Bible Colleges are producing in leadership for the church.

Many of our Bible College graduates do not ask of a church: Here are my gifts, can you use them? But they ask: Here are my needs, can you meet them?

As I said, I am not a mega-church pastor, so I certainly am not hip, but I have learned this in my time in ministry: If you’re too big to clean a toilet then you’re too little to do anything else.

Some of us need to repent of thinking too highly of ourselves. If you’re too big to do something small then you are too small to do something big. In fact, the smaller you are, the more room you leave for God. But I don’t know if that can be found in any of our Bible Colleges’ current text books.

It’s over…don’t try to contact me again…

I just can’t take it anymore. The way you tell me over and over the things I want to hear. You try to sweet talk me with all your talk about God and family…but I know the truth. You don’t care about God! You use Him! Just like you use me. You only seem to care about me when you’re interested in the one thing you always seem to be interested in. I am not something just to be lied to so you can get what you want out of me. I cannot take the abuse anymore. I have reached my breaking point. So I am letting you know once and for all that it’s over between me and you. I’m leaving you forever Republican Party! 

I can’t believe the freedom I feel in saying that, honestly! I have convinced myself for so long that you really do care about God and truth and life and marriage. But it was all a lie. You don’t care about any of that! We have had no significant change in things except you have aided in the death of more babies and now marriage is crumbling all across America. 

All the Republican Party has ever wanted from me is my vote. They want me to just shut up about God and life and marriage and just cast my vote for team “R” but I can’t do it anymore. In fact, the last time I voted for team “R” I felt like I needed to take a shower afterwards because I felt dirty for doing it. I just can’t do it anymore.

I am finally taking control. I am no longer listening to the lies. I am empowering myself to walk away from the Republican Party. I am only going to be concerned with doing what is right before God…and the only time I will ever vote for another Republican will be when that person can unequivocally prove that they are going to be a servant of the Most High first and a true statesmen second.

By the way, I tried. I tried for a long time to make things work. But your disdain for all that I care about made our relationship impossible to maintain. How can two people stay together who are headed in different directions? The Republican Party I first fell in love with used to care about all the things I continue to care about (life and marriage and religious liberty) but now all that the Republican Party cares about is making sure that they are not much different from the Democrat Party. And they have done a wonderful job at that!

Now it really is hard to tell the difference between a Republican and a Democrat anymore. Most of the “electable” Republicans love the murder of babies and destroying marriage as much as the most ardent Democrats.

You’ve been telling me for a long time now that I have to change if we want our relationship to progress. But I’ve told you for so long that these are things in me that will never change. You want an “open” relationship…where we are inviting anyone and everyone in. I don’t. I want your exclusive allegiance. I want to know that you care about the things that really matter.

But I don’t know who you are anymore. You have become everything that I hate. And I will not tolerate it anymore. So it is over. So go find someone else to climb into bed with Republican Party…it’s what you seem to be very good at these days. With your lack of standards you’ll find someone else, I’m sure.