** Christians and alcohol? **

On Tina Howard's blog, she recently posed these two questions:

1. What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of a Christian being involved in the alcohol industry?

2. Does it make a difference what part of the industry the Christian is involved in (meaning is there some line when it becomes inappropriate)?

Having had several opportunities to think, talk, and preach on this over the past few months, here are some thoughts - but push back on me if you disagree!

First, one of our premier rights - and responsibilities! - as believers is to display a redeemed view of all the good things God created. Frankly, we don't do that well! But knowing that God is glorified and praised when we enjoy the good things He created, gratefully and appropriately, in our use and interaction with alcohol, we have the opportunity to display to each other and to the world, how we can enjoy God's good creation beyond the "taboo-ness" of it.

God created alcohol; God created tastes, flavors, and all these things to intermix and weave together to point back to God as the creative, beauty, and greatest enjoyment in all of life. The created leads us to worship the creator.

Throughout Christian history, alcohol has played a huge - and vital! - role: it has been central to worship (it is central to communion, before a guy called Welch decided to grape-juice-ize the ordinance in 1869), to community ('cuz unless you're doing the 30-second challenge, you've got not much to do for an hour or so but talk with your friends over a pint), to evangelism (meeting folks where they are - rather than waiting for church skeptics to walk into a church, how 'bout meeting them at the bar?), and to daily life (C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, and J.R.R. Tolkien - and maybe other author friends who used initials instead of first names - met weekly at a pub to sharpen each other's writing skills. Apparently this was a good move for each!)

All that to say, alcohol is inherently good (don't hate, legalists!), because it was created by God for His purposes. It would be a good thing - for ourselves and for the world (especially for those of us in the Bible belt) if we could recover this view, and interact with alcohol in a healthy, redeemed, and mature manner. And (finally answering Tina's first question), one of the best ways we can do this is to place ourselves in strategic positions to influence those closest to the issue: in this case, that would be those in the alcohol industry.

Sure, there are disadvantages: someone will inevitably buy your product and use it inappropriately. But if they didn't have yours to buy, they'd just as likely buy the next one over on the shelf and do the same thing. That's not an excuse; it's just a reality. Someone will inevitably judge you, misunderstanding what you're doing. And there are probably many others I'm not listing - such is the product of depravity, as most humans do not have that mature, healthy, balanced view of life - much less, of alcohol!

But as far as advantages, (1) you have the opportunity to create taste, flavor, and art as you mix God-created ingredients as a reflection of Him and an enjoyment of life; (2) you have the opportunity to interact with those at the hearts of the industry: bar owners, distribution managers and drivers, CEO's of companies and so-forth. You get to talk with them, influence them, and even share your view and beliefs of what you do. When Paul went to any given city, he would immediately go to the religious and government centers, focusing on city leaders. Why? Because they would influence the city. You have the same opportunity as you influence leaders of the industry! (3) You get to create a good product, "working as if unto the Lord, not man," which as you express your purpose, will again point people to God, in worship, community, and enjoyment.

I know this is becoming far too long (sorry!), but to answer Tina's second question, no, I don't think there's any line: if you're a farmer, God has placed you on your farm to impact your family, employees, vendors, fertilizer and feed salesman, and so on. If you're a Wal-Mart checker, it's your co-checkers, your bosses, your customers if the opportunity arises, etc. I think that whatever part of the industry you're involved in, you have great, unique opportunities to impact the lives of individuals who nobody else might: if you're a distributor, you get to talk with tons of store owners/sales persons! If you're a bar owner, bartender, or waitress, you get to interact with customers every single day! And on and on and on.

So, last thought: no matter if you're producing beer, wine, liquor, tomatoes, written articles, lumber, air conditioner repair, or TPS reports, do it to the glory of God, creating the best possible product to reflect and worship God, and do it to display a redeemed view of life to folks God places around you, whomever it may be, and in whatever industry it is!