SCRIPTURE: Proverbs 23
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
Who has anguish? Who has sorrow? Who is always fighting? Who is always complaining? Who has unnecessary bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? It is the one who spends long hours in the taverns, trying out new drinks. Don’t gaze at the wine, seeing how red it is, how it sparkles in the cup, how smoothly it goes down. For in the end it bites like a poisonous snake; it stings like a viper. You will see hallucinations, and you will say crazy things. You will stagger like a sailor tossed at sea, clinging to a swaying mast. And you will say, “They hit me, but I didn’t feel it. I didn’t even know it when they beat me up. When will I wake up so I can look for another drink?” [Proverbs 23:29-35]
Solomon paints a vivid picture of the alcoholic, who gives an “inch” to alcohol and it becomes a “ruler”.
The picture reminds me of a master wine taster – trying out new drinks, gazing at the wine, its colour, its sparkle, and how it goes down.
And yet how many master wine-tasters become mastered by it.
This is also true of master money-makers, master athletes, master musicians… really anything that we become masters of eventually begins to take over our lives.
As long as we do not have God as our master, something else will master us… and ruin us.

The seed that fell among the thorns represents others who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life, the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things, so no fruit is produced. [Mark 4:18-19]
Jesus describes those who hear the message about God, yet do not fully receive it because something else masters their hearts: the worries of life, the lure of wealth, the desire for things (like wine or pleasure or success or property or possessions, etc.).
And we become unfruitful, or fruitless; that is, our lives become barren, unfulfilling, empty.
The very things we cling to bring us anguish and sorrow; we are always fighting, always complaining; our bodies reveal the ‘scars’ of our bondage (bloodshot eyes, unnecessary bruises).

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. [John 8:34]
Slaves of sin, of the very things that we think will make us free.
Those who reject moral boundaries, live beyond healthy limits, and choose to be free to do whatever they please, inevitably become slaves.
This is why Solomon is pleading with his children to not fall into the common traps of love of money or sex or power (the very traps that Solomon fell into).
My child, listen and be wise: Keep your heart on the right course. [Proverbs 23:19]
This is advice worth listening to!

PRAYER:
Lord, help me to project forward where my attitudes and behaviours will lead, so that I will not be lured into slavery to sin. Help me to listen and be wise, to keep my heart on the right course!