DO NOT (PART 14) – A CALL FOR MODERATION

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Listen, my son, and be wise, and set your heart on the right path: Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.

Proverbs 23:19-21         

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

NOTE: Will be at sea for the next two weeks and may be off the grid. If I can post, I will. If not, I will begin posting again as soon as I get to where I have connectivity.

I think I can say with confidence that in America, we have a problem with excess. We like to overdo it and we overdo it a lot.

Now that the holidays are over, many people are dealing with the bills that are coming in for all that shopping they did, many thinking that they may have overdid it. Outside of the household, governments spend and spend and spend like there is no limit, dragging the nation deeper and deeper into a debt that is reaching into the trillions. 

We like to eat and eat and eat to the point where obesity is the largest epidemic that is talked about the least. And all this in the shadows of a world where many people are starving and wondering where their next food will come from.

We’re a nation that likes its alcohol too. If you don’t believe that, look at how many advertisements we’re bombarded with on television. The problem with alcohol is that so many fail to partake of it with restraint and so we have problems with alcohol abuse which sometimes turns into alcoholism as well as drinking and driving.

Yes, we have a problem when it comes to self control in many areas and on a lot of different levels. But this isn’t a new phenomenon, not by a long shot. Looking at Saying 16 of the thirty Sayings of the Wise, we find Solomon writing these words of guidance:

Listen, my son, and be wise, and set your heart on the right path: Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags. Proverbs 23:19-21

These words are a call to moderation and although they are directed at a son, the Lord extends the caution to all His sons and daughters. “Do not” join those who drink too much wine. “Do not” join those who gorge themselves on meat. “Do not” join in with anyone who does things to excess for if you surround yourself with people who lack good sense when it comes to temperance, you can become just like them, taken down the wrong road toward poverty.

So what can keep us in check? Where can we turn to avoid the pitfalls of overdoing things?

The answer is found in wisdom.

“Listen, my son, and be wise, and set your heart on the right path.”

The word of God makes it clear that you need wisdom in order to keep your heart on the right path and that wisdom only comes when we turn to its Creator and Provider, the Lord God Almighty. As we begin this new year, we all have a special opportunity to right the past wrongs we may have committed when it comes to overdoing matters of life. We have the chance to allow wisdom to guide our decisions and in doing so, allow the Lord to dictate everything we do. In doing that, and in only doing that, we will ensure that we always choose moderation over excess because what we do will be perfectly righteous in accordance with the will of a perfectly righteous God.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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