Some advice for older guys

Older men are to be sober-minded.

Guide older men into lives of temperance.

Tell the older men to have self-control.

Teach the older men to be temperate.

Titus 2:2a

Apparently, in the place where this letter was written to, too much wine drinking could become a problem and had to be addressed. We have plenty of alcoholism in our culture as well. The word is moderation. Drinking isn't a sin, but drunkenness is. And what is too much? What immoderate? I think it's gone too far when it's a controlling factor, when the addiction trumps relationships- relationship with God and with family and with humanity. Something you like becomes something you crave, and then at some point, it becomes an idol. Then, God is not a part of this little worship time and it's a dark place.

From another, perhaps more practical angle, it's obvious that alcohol dulls you. Men of God, Christian men are called to be vigilant, on guard; ready: to answer, to serve, to hear, to obey God, to go. If you're under the influence of alcohol, how does this affect your serve? The Bible teaches abstinence for some and for all at times but not all for all times. Human beings are allowed to enjoy the fruits of the earth that are good and that includes wine. But it's perfectly ok to choose full abstinence.

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