A Choice

I am going to be very honest in this post.  Some people may have issues, but I am going to speak very candidly.

Last year about this time, I started to feel conviction to give something up for the Lord.  Now, I have given many things up for the Lord over the years.  I have sacrificed things I really wanted to do, or habits I enjoyed, but what He asked me to give up last year seems harder - both personally and socially.

Since August 11th of last year, I have not had any alcohol.  It is an easy date to remember, since I was at Comic-Con.  Now, this may not seem like a big deal to some. But, over the years, I had begun to enjoy the taste of alcohol.  Not to the level of getting drunk, but I liked a drink with a meal or with friends.

I compare it to not getting to eat pizza anymore (which is my favorite food).  It is easy to eat something else, but I would still miss eating it.

Alcohol had become something of a special treat for me.  When we would eat at Buffalo Wild Wings I would get a Stella Artois with my wings.  When would eat Mexican food I would get a margarita.  When going to eat somewhere nice, I would get a mixed drink I had never had before.  And on Sunday nights I would have a nice glass of Budweiser.

It was really something to enhance the meal.  It also helped me relax after a long day.

(This may be a good moment to bring up that even though I have stopped drinking, I do not view it as an evil or judge anyone who does.  This is something between me and God.  So if we are hanging out and you want to go get a drink, it will not bother me.)

Of course, I didn't listen to God at first.  (Ignoring God is especially easy when what He's asking you to give up is not something that you view as really bad.)  But, I had a heart to be obedient to what God was telling me.  And, He took matters into his own hands.

Alcohol started not tasting good. It had also lost its effect of being able to relax me.  So, I would have a Budweiser (my favorite beer) after a long day at work and the first sip would be awful.  I would think, "that is odd," and drink the rest of it over the next hour, like normal. That whole time, it would still taste awful.  AND it didn't have any relaxing effect on me.

I remember someone asking me when they offered me a drink, "Do you not drink anymore?".  My response was simply,  "It doesn’t taste good anymore."  After fighting that for a month or two  the light bulb finally came on.  God was applying pressure.

Now here is the part I like about God.

He was applying pressure. If I decided not to listen, to not have an obedient heart, or I just said that it wasn't worth giving up,  I am 99% sure that alcohol would have started tasting good again.  God will only take you as far as you are willing to go.

I have been reading Romans in the New Living Translation, and I found this idea put best in chapter 14 verse 23:

But if you have doubts about whether or not you should eat something, you are sinning if you go ahead and do it. For you are not following your convictions. If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning.

So, I am done drinking at this point.  I don't know if this is a forever thing, or just a season.  I would imagine God will want my obedience on this for a lifetime.  But, I am not worried about it. I am following His will for my life, and that is what counts - not the cost.