Too much
Some sins aren’t sins until you use too much of it or do too much of it. I suspect if you put the words “too much” in the same sentence it changes into sin. Say, for example, with wine.
I still remember the time when I worked as a farm manager on a wonderful wine estate in the Winelands. We worked hard and tried our best to manipulate the vineyards to bring out certain aromas in the wine. In the cellar we put in a lot of effort the keep those aromas inside and to prevent oxygen from affecting the character of the wine. I still remember that first pump when our first taste confirmed that we had caught all those aromas squarely in the wine.
Just as beautiful as the memory of a good wine with a lovely character can be, too much of that same wine can become a sin. Just one more glass for the enjoyment thereof and you lose control. 18Don’t drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge draughts of him.
Sometimes you lose more than just control of yourself, like John. This is his story:
I gave up my marriage of 16 years for another woman and a relationship of 18 months before it came to nothing and major debts and inconvenience and rejection. I was a real dog with no feelings for other people, a drunkard who loved to fight. Always said the drink and fighting is what I like, what keeps me alive. I never even went to the toilet without a glass or a beer in my hand. I never visited friends or family who did not drink. I even went to buy bread with a drink in my hand!
But fortunately his story doesn’t end there:
I booked myself into rehab. After the third weekend I was allowed out and got a lift with someone who lived close by. I asked my pal to stop at the liquor store to get a six-pack for the road. The friend said he would stop at that petrol station, there was also a liquor store. I was so upset that I fell asleep right there and then (today I know it was the Holy Spirit who was at work) and when I arrived at my house, he had to wake me up. I’ve never before fallen asleep while someone else was driving and never again either.
Two weeks after that, a week before the end, a minister and some children from the youth ministry came to visit the rehab (I hadn’t been to church for 30 years, just once with my ex-wife and my son). A 16-year old boy came up to me and said to me that the Lord had told him to give the little book to someone at the rehab. “Faith in God” was the little book’s title, a real children’s book with large print on one page and a picture on the opposite page. What a humiliation. I asked the boy what he thought I was, a child or a baby. Throughout the service they prayed for people and the boy again came to me and prayed for me.
I started crying uncontrollably, tears running down my cheeks. I could not stop or control it, it kept coming. Now you know, I’m this MACHO GUY, and here I was crying worse than a baby. There and then I gave my heart to Jesus Christ and was fully healed from alcohol addiction.
Now I am a child of God and do everything to live a clean and pure life rein.
God can heal. We can and must do everything to stay under his control.
Reflection
Are you under God’s control at all times?
Where are you getting a little too close to the lines?
Is there someone that you should help?
Prayer
Lord, sometimes I’m not in control. Sometimes “too much” comes visiting me and I know it is not within your will. Please help me to make it right. Please help me to make sure that I give full control of my life to your Spirit. Amen
