"Even Jesus drank wine." AUGHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I swear if I hear that again I'm gonna smack someone. People say that all the time when I answer the question about not drinking alcohol... "Even Jesus drank wine..."
Shooot! He healed the sick and raised the dead but I don't see anyone doin that!
This is what people say to justify drinking alcohol. I say if you gonna do it, just do it, justifications makes it worse.
But as long as we're here, let's talk about what Jesus did and didn't do. If people are going to justify drinking wine because Jesus did, then I say don't be half-steppin about it. Jesus was Jew, right? Are all these people who are announcing Jesus drinkin the wine eating Kosher according to Jewish law? I say you can't have it both ways. I mean you can't really pick and choose which parts of Jesus you're going to use for examples, He's not supposed to be a convenient means for our sad little justifications that no one really buys anyway.
Ok, back to wine. There is Oi nos which is fermented sugars from fruits. And there is wine meaning fruit of the vine. You know, like grape juice.
This wine was used in the first Sacrament, I believe, at the Last Supper in which Jesus said :
"I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."
I believe that's Matthew 26:29.
So I think there was a reason, a function for the wine making Jesus did.
It really irks me when folks say..."the bible says..." blah blah blah.
and you cant see any evidence of it in their actions, homes or lives. Knowing and quoting the bible and being able to leave it's teachings and be an example of it... are entirely 2 different things.
I guess my point is that I don't believe the Lord wants us to just be able to know his word. It's not enough. What's the point of knowing it if you aren't going to apply it.
I guess it's like having vitamins. You can carry them around all day, read what they do and how they're supposed to work, open them up and look at them all you want and it wont do you a bit of good.
It is only when you take them, ingest them, internalize them and add them to your body that they will do any good.
Again so we're clear, none of us are perfect. Some use that as an excuse to not even try... or be lazy at it and some us it as motivation to try harder. We're all hypocrites, every one of us. But it's not a title we should just give into and be proud of. I think it's something we should be working to rid ourselves of each day.
Lets make this year a year where we spend some time not just quoting scriptures but studying them, applying them, living them.
I know why we're counseled to read the scriptures often. We gain wisdom, perspective and insight with our different life experiences. Scriptures have layers of meaning and understanding. Something I read 5 years ago has a totally different perspective when I read it now. I'm doing a dis-service myself and the Lord if I remain satisfied with my understanding of things as a teenager and young adult. It's important to read the word and read it often. It gives council and comfort in hard times. It gives praise and humility in times of joy. They are a way of keeping us grounded, strengthened and clear minded in times of confusion and unrest.
These days, as we're experiencing a recession, unemployment is high, crime is high, deceit (scams, identity theft)is high. We've got political people selling off positions and religious people exploiting Jesus. It's easy to get caught up in the rapture of worldly things. We're becoming less and less spiritual and human beings with our unnatural obsession and attraction for things. We are neglecting our brothers and sister because it's become inconvenient to call, drop by, or spend genuine time with them. We've twisted and turned the teaching and doing of Jesus Christ to justify our current selfish desires. We can't pick and choose the parts of the Gospel we want to apply to our lives and justify/compromise the rest of it off, as if God don't know what's up with that.
He knows. And usually so do those around you. So next time you say... "even Jesus drank wine..." Try fasting for 40 days and 40 nights and THEN I will personally come and quench your thirst with some wine.
4 comments:
awesome.
I loved this post, I think sometimes just having blanket answers that might just be humorous is so nice. I might just need to use some of these lines.
I think the basic problem with people who try to justify their actions in the present based on past actions is the failure to see that God speaks to every man in his own language and according to his own speech.
God gives us commandments to help us deal with the problems and issues of the world today.
To try to justify our present actions based on what was done in another time and place is to tell God we do not see a need for continuing revelation and his guidence for us, in our day, with regards to our problems.
I loved this post. So true.
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