Cheers!

One thing that continually intrigues me about sitting under instruction of God's word is how He manages to tailor the lesson to one specific area of my life or set of beliefs that needs to be addressed. I normally begin a session thinking I'm going to learn about one particular subject, yet it's amazing how oftentimes I end up learning a more valuable lesson about something totally different. Such was the case in last night's doctrines class.

Last night's lesson was on regeneration, how we are born spiritually dead (thanks to Adam's sin) and made spiritually alive by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit at the moment we profess a saving faith in Jesus Christ, and how this new life manifests itself in the life of the believer. Having been through this material more than once in the past, I figured there wouldn't be much "new stuff" to absorb in class...that is, until Dan joined our class ten minutes into the lesson.

Dan gave us an example of the manifestation of new life (or, in the case of the example, the lack of manifestation) from his own perspective, how he had observed others giving testimony of their faith in Christ, and how they diminished (or in some cases destroyed) their own testimony shortly thereafter by consuming alcoholic beverages. I responded with a profession of my own ignorance of what a Biblical stance on the consumption of alcohol should be. What followed was a rather heated debate (among all of us) about exactly what the Bible has to say about alcohol. It seemed the Lord had decided that I was going to learn something new after all.

Once again, I praise God for the pastors He has seen fit to bless us with. They complement each other in many ways. Our associate pastor took the lead with an uncompromising stance against all alcoholic consumption, and he did a good job of backing his position up with scripture references and theological arguments. That alone, I thought, was enough to enlighten me of the error of my ways. Not surprisingly (for those who know him), our senior pastor quietly listened to everyone's arguments, and he only interjected when he felt it necessary to correct a statement that was just plain wrong...but of course, he didn't stop there.

As I stated in a previous post, we can always count on our senior pastor to present us with a plethora of information when we have questions or disagreements. I appreciate the fact that he knows how to enlighten us by allowing us to learn on our own. He simply gives us all the information we could possibly need to make our own choice, and he trusts that God will do the rest. I walked away with both new knowledge and a new position on alcohol consumption, and I have enough information at my disposal now to keep my position from ever changing.

While I have believed for a long time that there was nothing wrong with the occasional drink in a Christian's life, I myself have very rarely imbibed. However, the Lord took the choice of drinking from me several years ago when I was diagnosed with gout. You see, one of the two biggest dietary taboos for a gout patient is alcohol. Unless I want to be dependent on medication for the rest of my life (which I do not), I can never drink again. I now understand why He did that - because alcohol consumption is condemned by the Bible! Praise God for His all-loving, all-knowing, and all-powerful character! He continues to give me exactly what I need, exactly when I need it.

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

"Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." - Proverbs 23:31-32