July 26th

I sit here relaxing in front of the TV, stone cold sober, looking forward to going out with the family in a few minutes. Our plans are simple: a little shopping, window and otherwise, and that’s about it. Oh, and we’re going to do it without any alcohol. It should be fun. Not great gut busting fun, but entertaining nevertheless. Of course it might not seem like that much excitement, but we don’t mind.

The TV, on the other hand, just presented a very different view about fun. The ad started out with attractive young people running in the park late at night. Nothing wrong with that. Then they started getting out of their clothes to reveal tight bodies and modest bathing suits. Again, nothing wrong with that. Then they rolled out big plastic sheets, the park sprinklers came on, and they all started sliding down the wet plastic. Once more, nothing wrong with that. Of course, by this point I had almost forgotten I was watching an advertisement. Never mind, it was fun, whatever I was watching, so there was nothing wrong with that, except for the fact that the advertiser didn’t seem to be getting the point across.

Finally, the commercial got around to selling their product. They were selling vodka. Drink responsibly, they said. Nothing wrong with drinking responsibly. I did, however, have to wonder why all those young people apparently needed to be drunk in order to have fun, so all of a sudden, the ad, at least for me, went from innocuous to just plain “everything wrong with that.”

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I am not against drinking responsibly. However, I am also very much against letting or using alcohol to control, or even have the appearance of controlling, one’s behaviour. Quite frankly, there couldn’t be anything more wrong with that. Yes, Jesus drank real wine, but it was not so he could do better work. It was part of dinner. My wife and I have the occasional glass of wine, but never more than one or two glasses, and never, ever, to enhance our mood, or to help us loosen up. We like the taste, and go out of our way to enjoy it for just that reason.

God gave us mighty good physical and mental tools. They’re great at helping us get what we need, serve others, have a good time and generally live lives that please and honour God. Sure, some things can enhance what God has given us. Friends, healthy lifestyle, family and a good relationship with Jesus and God’s Word are the best mood enhancers you could ask for. Anything that artificially controls our moods, unless prescribed by a doctor, is not only wrong, it’s an affront to our creator.

God made us absolutely perfect. We need nothing other than what He gave us to be the best we can be. So, as far as I’m concerned, the best life possible is one lived to the fullest doing our best for God. That life can include any number of fun things, even including sliding down water soaked plastic slides late at night, without a single drink. At least the way I see it.