Clarity

Some answers have surfaced about last week's horrible tragedy. Nothing makes sense at all until you factor in one thing: ALCOHOL. He was drunk when he killed himself. This young man was not in his right mind. He'd been struggling with alcoholism, and trying to quit drinking. He blew it again, and thought it better to end his life than face the disappointment and anger of his wife.

I'm not a drinker, and never have been. Somehow my mom got it through to me when I was young that nothing good happens when people drink, and I made it through my entire high school and college experience without even wanting to be a part of that scene. I don't condemn anyone for drinking, and I don't think it's a sin unless God has convicted you that it is a sin FOR YOU, but that's none of my business. Drunkenness is clearly defined as sin, along with idolatry, fits of rage and jealousy in Galations 5:19-21. In that list is also dissension. For every "goody-two-shoes" (in the church especially) who has condemned someone for getting drunk, there is plenty of dissension to go around! Just count how many churches there are of any given denomination in your town. They can't all be mission churches, launched in harmony and unity of spirit...

Anyway, the point is that in order to drink too much, you have to drink. So I don't drink, then I never drink too much. This one area of my life is in good shape. There are so many others that are not. It's a good thing that drinking too much Coke Zero is not clearly defined in the bible as sin, or I'd be in trouble! Idolatry is listed, and if my Coke becomes an idol to me (more important than the things that should be important), then I have a problem.

Seriously, none of the people you look at and think are perfect are really anywhere close. No one can stay on a pedestal, there's not enough room to move, and everyone falls off eventually. This is not to condemn all human-kind in one stroke (although the bible does say that all have sinned, Romans 3:23), but however good you think someone is, there are things you just don't know about that person which might change your mind somewhat if you did.

If you ever think the world would be better off without you, that's not true. The world would be better off without your sin (and mine!), but not better off without YOU. If you were to go away, like this guy did, you'd leave behind many lives that would never be the same without you, and not for the better. Look at what this young widow is going through. And her father too, whose best friend just died seven months ago. And that's not even taking into account the young man's parents or brother. Their world is shaken too. So much pain, and so much grief, all because he thought things would be better if he weren't there.

But he wasn't thinking clearly.