Are You Playing With Fire?
We’ve all heard and felt the harsh reality of this famous saying, “if you play with fire, you are going to get burned.” This is a very wise warning about the damaging costs of foolish risk.
God has a variety of ways He expresses this truism:
“Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Or can a man walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched?” (Prov. 6:27–28)
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap” (Gal. 6:7).
“Do not associate with a man given to anger; or go with a hot-tempered man, or you will learn his ways and find a snare for yourself” (Prov. 22:24).
"Be sure your sin will find you out” (Num. 32:23)
There are always potential fires all around us that can burn us in so many ways: just one look, one lust, one indulgence, one bet, one outburst, one whim, one drug, one snort, one liberty, one temptation, one toke, one obsession, one drink, one sin, and on it goes.
One contemporary illustration is the use of alcohol. I recently read about this common and combustible reality that has burned far too many people over the years, even in the church. Its influence has great potential to damage lives, relationships, and society.
Please note, the point of this article is not to build a case against alcohol or defend why I’m a committed teetotaler (a sweet teetotaler), or to question why so many believers today don’t give this potential fire a thought. It is to remind all of us to stay alert and heed God’s wisdom about playing with fire.
Last week (March 22), the New York Times reported on how alcohol-related deaths surged during the first year of the pandemic. What was surprising was how 2020 alcohol deaths outnumbered COVID deaths among those under 65 (74,408 Americans ages 16 to 64 died of alcohol-related causes, compared to 74,075 individuals under 65 who died of COVID). Here are a few of the findings (see more here along with related research).
The number of deaths in the U.S. from alcohol-related causes surged during the first year of the pandemic, rising 25% from 2019 to 2020.
The largest spike in alcohol-related deaths was among 35- to 44-year-olds, at nearly 40%.
Alcohol-related deaths increased among all age groups and genders.
It is now the third leading cause of preventable death.
Total alcohol sales in the U.S. by volume increased by 2.9% in 2020 from 2019, the greatest annual increase in sales in more than 50 years.
What this story doesn’t tell you is the long trail of destructive wreckage that the use and misuse of alcohol has left in its wake: adultery, immorality, divorce, domestic violence, broken homes, lost productivity, lost jobs, suicide, diseases, crime, alcoholism, healthcare costs, DUIs, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, etc. We could also see what God connects to the power of alcohol: incest (Gen. 19:32-35), adultery (Rev. 17:2), late night and early morning drinking (Isa. 5:11-12), hallucinations (Isa. 28:7), foolish behavior (Isa. 5:22, Jer. 51:39), murder (2 Sam. 11:13), vomiting (Jer. 25:27, 48:26, Isa. 19:14), staggering (Jer. 25:27; Ps. 107:27; Job 12:25), madness (Jer. 51:7), shameful nakedness (Hab. 2:15; Lam. 4:21), slothfulness (Joel 1:5), escapism (Hos. 4:11), depression (Luke 21:34), violence (Prov. 4:17), mockery and brawling (Prov. 20:1), and poverty (Prov. 21:17).
Again, I’m using alcohol as one of many examples of how playing with fire can lead to some tragic and regrettable consequences.
No matter what kind of “fire” you are tempted to play with, we all need to stay vigilant about how we exercise our Christian liberties and stay committed to making “no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts” (Rom. 13:14b). God makes clear the consequences of our choices: “the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Gal. 6:8).
Pastor Jeff