I am convicted.
I have never been more convinced in my life that underaged drinking is a sin.
No blurred lines, excuses, questions..
It is a sin. The lines have been drawn.
Satan might try and get you to believe that it's normal to try it, experiment, but I am convinced that it is against God's will for our lives and giving something like alcohol that amount of power to influence your choices is wrong.
A friend of my mother's died to alcoholism in October and I saw firsthand how drinking can wreck a life, a family, and a promising future. You may be sitting there thinking you can have alcohol "completely under control" but you can't. It is one of the ways Satan can attack you at your weakest point and manipulate your sense of right and wrong.
The way I see it, if you're thinking about drinking and you have faith in God, look at it this way.
Would you be able to look in God's eyes and tell him your decision to drink?
Would you feel that you were honoring His name?
More importantly, do you think He would be proud..?
God calls us to a higher standard of living and living with faith in God is setting yourself apart, but in that you must see that underage drinking and abuse of drinking simply does not fit into that way of life.
Drinking twists reality.
It brings in an unseen darkness that lies beneath the surface "fun" and winds its way around your heart until it has power over you.
Alcohol can bring out the worst in you, putting you in dangerous and damaging situations that cause you deep and long lasting pain in the here and now along with in your future.
You could say words of regret, words that severe relationships, scar another person emotionally. You could end up doing things with a guy or with a girl that could cause you regret and sorrow.
With alcohol, the control is lost.
You surrender control to a substance.
It is known that even the strongest of Christians can fall.
"The safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts."
-C. S. Lewis
It only takes one decision...one night to begin the slow and steady path to a life rationalizing bad decisions based on others around you instead of God's standards.
In my life, wearing the badge of Christ is an honor.
If I am upholding the image of Christ in my life with other non-believers and believers looking at me and I choose to drink, what does that reflect about Christianity?
[1 John 2:4-6]
"Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God[a] is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did."
If you are claiming to know God then accept the responsibility His name carries. Claiming to know and follow Christ makes yourself a visible symbol on your campus, your work, with your friends, and out in the world of who Jesus is to those who don't know Him. It makes you a symbol also to those who do and sometimes that can be worse.
[1 John 2:6]
"Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked."
If we claim to be abiding in Christ then that would be transformative. Then our lives would be ones given as offerings to God instead of ones following our own authority and forging our own path through a life so many have yet to understand the meaning of.
[John 14:15]
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments."
Loving God means obeying His word in full...not just bits and pieces. If you love God then let your life be a reflection of that by holding true to His word and His laws.
God also calls us to submit to authority and to obey.
"Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4 For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience." -Romans 13:1-7
Friends, I am not telling you this to condemn you.
I am not telling you this so that I may seem like this perfect Christian who has it all figured out and obeys every single one of God's commandments every single moment of every day...because I definitely do not and am not flawless.
I have felt personally convicted since coming to college on my stance on drinking and I have seen God pushing me towards speaking out about this issue. To speak the truth, you need to be going about it in the way that Jesus would have with humility and grace.
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. -Ephesians 4:15
I am trying to tell you this truth out of love so that you may experience in full the type of life God intended for you to have. God has given us His law so that we may be protected, our hearts guarded and safe from the wicked darkness that draws us near. Our heart is the most valuable aspect of who we are and allowing sin to freely enter through the floodgates of our hearts is not the way to true fulfillment, but the way to emptiness and pain.
He has not given us these boundaries so that we'll never have fun, never be happy, but to surround us with His protection against the unseen pain lurking beneath every sin both big and small. He gives us lines not so that we blur them but can distinguish between what is right and what is wrong in the sight of God (see "Lines of Love" blog from the summer for more).
Our job here on Earth is to sharpen one another. We are called to help, encourage, inspire, and uplift people and especially our friends in their journey.
Proverbs 27:17 says, "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another."
Sharpening means speaking the truth and not backing down. If you know that something is NOT right and is a sin, then speak that truth humbly with grace. God hasn't given you a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7). We have the power to influence others by being a light, being an example, wearing the badge of Christ with reverence and honor to God.
In my walk, I am striving to carry the banner high and seek His ways. Christians must declare truth to others in their lives so that they may see Him and it will set them free of the chains in their life (John 8:32). If Christ's laws dwell in your hearts then they will flow freely out of your mouths because they personally convict you.
"Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes! With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word." -Psalm 116:12-15
Everybody has times in their life when the lines between black and white are blurred and someone may feel ready to cross that line. I pray that if its a friend of yours, you would step up and draw that person back from the line gently. If you are struggling, going back and forth, then stop and ask yourself this.
Where is my identity found?
If my identity is found solely in Christ and with God, does drinking fit into that?
Will I regret a devoted life lived dwelling in the commandments of Christ?
Will I regret upholding the image of Christ, true and pure, in my life when that final breath is taken and I am sent to stand in His presence?
Can I withstand the peer pressure to drink through God? YES. He has given us the power from His spirit to flee from sin when we pursue Christ. It is what He deserves.
We were bought at a precious price and this life is not our own to mess with. This life is meant to honor and glorify God.
Wearing that cross, bearing that love, following His name is a privilege and blessing we never even deserved but God gave it to us out of love.
Doesn't he deserve to be honored and loved with everything that we have 100%?
We wouldn't be alive without Him. He truly deserves our everything.
Let us be the type of Christians and believers that illuminate God's truth in life to shed light on the boundaries which have been set in place with the purpose of keeping our hearts safe.
May we dwell inside God's love for us and allow that to expand our hearts to a point where we are convicted to speak of God's truth.
If you are about to pick up that red cup, look up.
Look Jesus straight in the eyes and tell me what you see.
You will see in His eyes a God who wants so much more for you than cheap amusement,
a God whose heart breaks with every step you take away from Him,
the One who desires for you to lead a life in the light.
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