Sobriety of Soul

As you likely surmised from a previous chapter, I have dealt in the past with substance abuse. Specifically, that substance was alcohol. In this chapter, I want to be brief and to the point. Time doesn’t need to be wasted on why this is an important issue.

It may be helpful to quickly address Paul’s intention here at the outset. At the time of writing the letters to Timothy and Titus that this qualification appears in, wine was a common drink not only for festivities but also for daily life. It had, and has, numerous health benefits and was also a safer source of nourishment than the otherwise unfiltered and unclean water of the time. The danger, however, was the loose and frivolous way people drank wine. Instead of being something that was moderated and enjoyed, it became something that people engorged on and were enslaved to. For Paul, he needed to point out to Timothy and Titus that for a man to be a qualified elder, and for the sake of this book a mature and godly man, he couldn’t be addicted to and habitually controlled by alcohol.

It doesn’t take a biblical scholar to see why. From Genesis to Revelation, we see one account after another of the painful and destructive impact that over-indulging on alcohol causes. From Noah’s drunken exposure of his nakedness to the intoxicating elixir of the whore of Babylon in Revelation, the picture is clear: Too much of a good thing is a bad thing. This is clear, but I need to point out something else. Paul didn’t have marijuana in his day. He didn’t have gas stations that sold borderline narcotic-level substances. Many people look at the absence of a prohibition against substances like marijuana as a green light for their recreational use, but this is not the case. The principle behind the command not to be a drunkard is the same one that underpins a position against marijuana use. That principle is that, for a Christian, there shouldn’t be a moment in our lives where our minds are inebriated and disengaged from the world around us and the God above us, insofar as we can help it. This type of behavior shows a lack of self-control, sound judgement, stewardship of God’s gifts, and so much more.

If we are to be men of God who stand out from the culture around us, then we can’t settle to be biblical men in most areas but fall short and excuse ourselves for it in the areas that are kind of fun when we are with the guys. If you want to follow God fully and carry yourself in a way that blesses the men, women, and children around you then you must be the kind of man who knows how to “control his own body in holiness and honor” (1 Thessalonians 4:4).