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Avoid Alcohol and Drugs

Many college students struggle with alcohol and substance abuse. Marijuana use is the highest it has been in 35 years. Globally, the average person consumes 6.4 liters of  alcohol every year—that’s 53 bottles of wine! Sixty percent of U.S. college students drink at least once a month; one out of every four has academic problems because of it. Each year, there are over 690,000 physical and sexual assaults on college campuses due to alcohol and substance abuse. Here are five reasons to avoid alcohol and drugs:

1. Alcohol deceives. It promises delight, but delivers death. In place of romance, it delivers remorse. It turns fun into futility, happiness into hangovers, and boldness into bitterness. Proverbs says “wine bites like a snake and poisons like a viper.” You shouldn’t drink for the same reason you would never have a rattlesnake as a pet. You might pet it daily and never get bit, but the threat of being bitten is enough to keep it out of your house.

2. Alcohol impairs judgement. Noah got drunk; he was shamed and cursed his son (Genesis 9:20–27). Lot got drunk; he committed incest with his daughters (Genesis 19:30–38). Drugs and drinking will make you do what you don’t want to do and become what you never thought you would become. Life is too short to live it dulled by drugs or alcohol. God wants you to have a clear mind to make good decisions. 

3. Alcohol damns. Drunkenness can lead to hell. If you never start drinking, you never have to worry about drunkenness.

4. Drinking and drug abuse destroy. They destroy futures, relationships, and people. In America, there are over 18 million alcoholics or problem drinkers. Each one of these affects at least four other people. Can you see the destruction this brings? You might be able to have a drink and not get drunk, maybe. But why would you want to risk someone else, who cannot handle a drink, seeing your example and doing what might destroy their life? 

5. Alcohol dilutes. In the Scriptures, refraining from alcohol is a sign of consecration. We are called to announce to the world that Jesus is alive, rose from the dead, and is coming again. We should not dilute that testimony with substance abuse, but instead, we should show the way to freedom from bondage.