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Editors note: This post goes along with one that I wrote yesterday about going to the unsaved instead of expecting them to come to us. It’s true we go to them, but we must not allow them to stay the same way

Saturday night I stood in a road near my house and watched a man who clearly had too much to drink. He got up on a small wall separating a building and an individual’s yard, and I shouted out for him to be careful. He did walk along with the wall without a problem, and then prepared to jump.

I surely thought he would jump to the yard on the right hand side since the ground was much softer than concrete…

He didn’t

I watched in fear as he tried to jump to a small landing on the building only to miss badly, push off from the wall, and fall to the steps below. I immediately ran over to make sure that he was okay, and thanked the Lord he hadn’t suffered any broken bones.

the truly sad thing is I asked him about Sunday, and he didn’t remember any of that happening.

It breaks my heart that see many Vincentians like this man who drink strong rum and water for most of the day, and then are completely drunk at night. This eventually becomes a cycle where they rely on alcohol for their happiness.

It’s true that rum brings a feeling of happiness since your cares or worries are forgotten, but in the end it destroys you. As a friend who used to drink a lot explains “you keep chasing the happiness of that first drink.”

The real problem is things in this world such as alcohol and money cannot make you happy. They were never truly meant to bring happiness. This is only found in Christ.

Last week I began reading Look and Live a very interesting book written by Matt Papa. The books main focus is Christ and the Gospels the only thing that can truly bring happiness.

Here is my favourite quote from the book so far:

“The Triune God is the only thing large enough, and interesting enough to bear the weight of glory, and ultimately worship. Anything else will break your heart”

So in the end, alcoholism is not a physical or mental problem, it is a spiritual problem.

Individuals make rum their source of happiness, and it breaks their heart. The answer isn’t for them to stop drinking, but see that Christ is sweeter than anything the world offers.

Only Those who place their faith in Christ’s Salvation will truly have hope.

Recently I have been praying with a believer whose sister since early February has been deteriorating physically with what ended up being stage four cancer. It brought great sorrow to see her strong sibling go through great pain, and stop eating. But there was hope because that sister knew Christ.

Saturday afternoon she called me to say that her sister had gone home to be with the Lord. Visiting with other church members, it was amazing to notice the calmness and strength of this Christian woman had. She knew in her heart that her sister would be seen again in Heaven.

Yesterday morning she told me that her sisters last words before becoming too weak to talk was “Jesus take me now.” This woman who placed her hope in Christ faced death not with fear, but rejoicing.

The world offers many idols that offer sweetness at first, but become bitter soon. As Believers we must go to the lost encouraging them to throw away their worthless idols, and drink from the Gospel of Christ, which is the only thing that will satisfy.