#focr edition 16

This verse warns that those carried away by alcohol are not wise. Why is it not wise? One answer to this question lays in the reason behind the excuses one gives for repeated intoxication. Honestly, ask these questions:

‘Why do I drink excessively?’

‘What pain am I trying to cover up?

‘What loneliness am I attempting to drown?’

‘What happended in my childhood that burdens me till this day?

‘What is it about my occupation that makes relationships so difficult?’

These aren’t strictly for alcoholics. Porn addiction, drug abuse, fitness, work ethic, gambling; name any vice, abusive within itself or when abused will lead you astray.

It’s established—you’re broken inside and seeking an exchange. You’re putting alcohol into your body, porn into your mind etc., hoping it’ll clear the ugliness inside, yet you are digesting poison becoming more and more infected.

You behave as if, ‘alcohol comes out of the bottle into you and your pain goes out of you into the bottle.’ This is wicked deception leading to deeper despair, offers no real solution, no forgiveness, and absolutely zero comfort to your soul.

There is no exchange taking place for every bottle drained means alcohol and pain reside in you. Porn and sexual abuse take control. Work and time are your master. Whatever your vice for escape you’ll find the Devil in the details and he only cares for your destruction. The bottle, porn, opioids, social climbing; none of it cares about you.

Be honest; after the bottle is drained, the dirty deed done, or the money’s made are you any different? Are you ever any better than before? Have your circumstances changed? Has your pain been carried away as far as the east is from the west?” No, because vice hasn’t the answer.

Here’s the answer you need—Jesus. In encountering Christ Jesus you’ll never be the same again because he is more than a coping mechanism. He alone is mighty to save you, to cleanse you, and as the living water He alone is capable of curing your deep seated hurts. Through Jesus, the Holy Spirit enters, and true, meaningful healing begins.

The bottle you’re holding drains empty; the Word of God never does. Read it with an honest and open heart. Seek and find out for yourself that Christ’s’ love never waxes cold.

Just suppose there were one-hundred-fifty million cows in America. Let’s suppose there is an industry doing a great business selling a certain kind of hay. This hay, called Old Scarecrow, made entirely from locoweed, is alluringly describe as a blend of old straw aged in the cornfield. As a result, cows by the millions turn from their sober diet of alfalfa and begin chewing Old Scarecrow.

Now let’s suppose that this stuff makes the cows do silly things such as running into barbed wire fences, jumping off bridges or running into automobiles--so much so that five-hundred thousand are killed or injured every year.

Suppose milk production is cut down because the users of Old Scarecrow lose fifty million "cow-days" a year.

Suppose the life expectancy of the cows who chew it regularly is reduced b an average of 12 per cent. Suppose that it makes four million of the cows so sick that much of the time they are useless, and suppose that for every one that is cured, the industry makes ten more Old Scarecrow addicts.