Bye Bye, Booze

Several of my friends have asked about my decision to quit drinking because it caught them off guard. It's not like I was even close to being an alcoholic, but it was responsible for several crazy nights and bad decisions. Answering with, "because God told me to" wasn't cutting it for them, so I did some digging in the Bible.

The real epiphany moment was at the Encounter conference in June while Isaiah Saldivar was preaching. He shared about his life before Christ and how he was partying every day. When God met Isaiah at the altar, He said it would cost everything. Everything includes alcohol. I really felt convicted about drinking while sitting there that Saturday night. I made the decision to give it up for God and He took it. Today marks two months without a drink, and I don't miss it.

Facing my friends was a bit of a challenge. That was what we did together. Grab a margarita and complain about work. Down a few beers and watch football. Now, I changed the game and neither of us quite knew what to do. Some told me it won't last, but they don't understand that I am a changed person. It happened so fast, it just didn't make sense to them. A couple people talked about how the Bible doesn't say anything about not drinking. I quoted the one scripture I knew off the top of my head on the issue, which was Ephesians 5:17-18 "Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;" Well, having been filled with the Spirit, the hole I numbed with alcohol was also filled. The Holy Spirit satisfied that desire, and I started so see more of that passage happen in my life. Verses 19-20 say, "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." I have been singing praise songs and thanking God for everything He has done and will continue to do. As Pastor Steve says all the time, "Stick with the plan." When you stick with what God calls you to do, the rest falls into place. It just takes faith to believe it will all come to be.

While working on this post, I was also streaming live service from World Revival Church. Something Pastor Steve just said fits pretty well. "The things that wear other people are not wearing you out because they aren't important to you." I see my friends who drink struggling at work and struggling to find happiness. I'm not saying my work struggles all went away since giving up alcohol, but by following God, I have the strength and joy within me to make it through the day in decent spirits.

Surprisingly, or not, some of my Christian friends are included in the group questioning the decision to quit drinking. This quote from Isaiah hits the nail on the head: "Here's the thing: I'm a Christian and I drink. I'm a Christian and I smoke. I'm a Christian and I party. I'm a Christian and I don't live any different than anybody. You must not be a Christian because you're so radical and you're so different. So what are you? So they label us as in a cult because they don't understand that we met someone that they're talking about. They don't understand that we came into an encounter with a living God that breathes out stars." Two of my friends have actually asked if I was in an occult now because the new "rules" I live by are "no fun" and "too strict." Maybe I'm not indulging in the worldly fun anymore, but I don't miss it. Alcohol pales in comparison to the joy I've found in following God and spending time with Godly people. That alone would be enough, but then there are verses like Proverbs 23:21a, "For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty."  How many of us want poverty? Exactly. If making one little change can help fend off being poor, well, I'll take that blessing! Right away, not spending money on alcohol leaves money in my pocket to spend on more important things.

There are several other verses in the Bible that talk about not drinking. One is Leviticus 10:9m which says, "Do not drink wine or strong drink, thou not thy sons with thee." That probably explains why my parents were so upset by my drinking. Oops. Sorry, guys!

This past Friday night, Pastor Tom posed the question, if the Holy Spirit is within us, what are we subjecting him to? We have to fight our carnal, fleshly desires in order to let the Spirit operate through us. Two passages label drinking a problem of the flesh. Romans 13:13-14 says, "Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." Galatians 5:19a and 21 says, "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." That last part is heavy. Works of the flesh keep us from the kingdom of God and drinking is a work of the flesh. Boom. If anything else wasn't enough of a reason for me, that sure did it. Following God is worth the cost.

Again, that passage continues to give us details of how following the Spirit instead of the flesh can impact our lives right now. Galatians 5:22-24 says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." I want to be a good fruit and see the fruit of the Spirit grow in my life.

These are just a bunch of reasons for how I came to the decision. Bottom line, I made the change because God told me to, and that is all the reason I need.