Today's Devotional

May 18, 2005

Subject:  Deceived By The Drink

Proverbs 20:1 - "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise."

In an outstanding briefing I attended at the Pentagon yesterday, a General from the Marine Corps showed up in his dress uniform to brief the civilian leadership on a mishap that occurred involving a couple of our Marines.   In the mishap, which occurred on a Saturday morning, one Marine driving a car swerved off of the road and impacted a young Marine on a bicycle and killed him.  It was a sad scenario and the General was quite strict in his use of the term "murderer" in describing the Marine who was driving the car.  The report stated that the driver had one drink, but his blood alcohol content was .13 on two separate tests, way over the legal limit.   

The cost of misusing alcohol is high.  In this case it costs two people their lives.  First the young Marine who was killed and secondly, the driver of the vehicle because surely his life will never be the same and all of that based on one drink.  In this case, surely a most costly drink.  This is clearly a case where he was "deceived by the drink."

Many parents and bible teachers err when they tell others that drinking is wrong or a sin.  Of course I've never been a drinker and so when I make that statement, many say that I'm attempting to defend what I do.  However, the truth is that the scripture nowhere condemns drinking, but instead being deceived by it.   It additionally says, "be not drunk..."  I could find many health and fitness reasons against drinking, but so too could I against Kool-Aid, Gatorade and Hawaiian Punch.   

The bottom line is that wine and strong drink have a capability to deceive unlike most other drinks.  Keep that in mind because the "deception" of one drink can be most costly.  Remember, don't be drunk with that kind of wine, be filled with the "New Wine," the Spirit of God.    

Carlen