The Lord delivered me from alcohol abuse, for which I’m eternally thankful.

There was a saying in AA that said, “Never take that first drink.” It was a warning, because the first one makes it much easier to get to the second, and so on.

I very sadly found that out the hard way, and the Lord delivered me again. I talk about it all in a blog post here.

It is my belief that this can be applied to the world.

Man by nature has a “carnal” man, also called the “flesh” in the Bible. This carnal man can do no work that is spiritually good. In fact, it can only do evil:

Romans 8:7 – “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”

The “world” in the Bible is often painted in the same light:

John 15:18-19 – “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”

You can see it in alcohol abuse, but I believe you can apply it similarly spiritually:

Since those two are of the same nature, I would suggest that our carnal man is addicted to the world. Since the world brings wicked pleasures, and the carnal man is wicked, it would seem to make sense. I would suggest:

The carnal man is going to be a world-aholic.

But then God says that a person who loves even the things in the world (which must be the things in the world’s kingdom vs. God’s kingdom and His creation) does not have the love of God in them:

1 John 2:15 – “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

If we are Christians, we have an internal, spiritual war going on inside us:

1 Peter 2:11 – “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;”

And then there’s the devil, who is the prince of the world — not in absolute terms, but we are either slaves to sin and his works or to God:

Ephesians 2:2 – “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:“

Romans 6:17 – “But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.“

Satan is all too dutiful to work with the world and our carnal man to lure us to things sensual (simply, things delighting the senses), which automatically lure us from the things of God and His kingdom.

But, we are commanded to mortify (kill) the flesh:

Romans 8:13 – “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.“

Colossians 3:5 – “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:“

Further, the Bible says the world is supposed to be crucified to us, and us to it:

Galatians 6:14 – “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”

This would seem to mean it should be dying to us — having less and less of an effect or attraction to us. And because crucifixion was slow, I would suggest it may happen over time, but God appears there to say it will happen.

And so, with the evil trinity of our flesh, the devil and the world, all working together to seek our eternal destruction, wouldn’t the cautious individual look at all of them as something to repel from?

Wouldn’t then the caution be this?

Don’t ever take that first “drink” of the world, its accoutrements, entertainments and dainties, its culture, its ways of doing things.

A few extra work chores or leisure activities on the Lord’s Day here, a little step away from stricter modesty there, just a little vanity somewhere. That first “drink”.

Some might decry the slippery slope concept, but it’s obvious that’s exactly what happens — in alcohol abuse, where it usually gets worse over time, and I would suggest, also with the world. A garden un-kept is slowly overgrown with weeds, not immediately.

I would suggest this happened to the western church coming out of the 1800s and through the 1900s. A little less Lord’s Day strictness, worldliness creeps in, then to the daily lives of Christians. And now, some churches purposely try to be like the world.

Now, while the true Christian will not fall away totally, I believe there potentially could be bad and unintended consequences:

  • Becoming more like the world make ones less more like a peculiar people, as God would have Christians. And so the witness can be tainted.

  • While one may not fully slide away to the world, the next generation might, or the one after that, because:
    • They’re closer to the world each generation.
    • They’ve been taught it’s ok to take a “drink” of the world.

  • The carnal man increases, and thus Christian graces decrease. Again, as in a garden, the more weeds, the fewer good plants, and vice-versa.

While some might not agree, I believe this is extraordinarily serious to consider. The war is real. The devil would have us destroyed, and he has a myriad of tools at his disposal, including ourselves — the body of death we carry around with us:

Romans 7:24 – “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”

May God grant us a love for Him above everything. May He help us to mortify the flesh, resist the devil, and love not the world. May we seek Him diligently in these, and we pray He grant us His graces to be faithful to Him, and may He keep our feet from sliding.

May we thirst only for Him and look to Him alone to satisfy:

Psalm 42:2 – “My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?“

Psalm 63:1 – “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;“

Psalm 81:10 – “I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.“

— David