Three Sheets to the Wind

Read: Proverbs 23:19-35

And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.

                                                                                                                Ephesians 5:18 

     In sailing, a “sheet” is a rope used to control the movable corners of a sail. There are three main sails held in place by the sheets aboard a sailing vessel. When those sheets come loose, it causes the sails to flap uncontrollably and the ship to be driven mercilessly by the wind and the waves. In other words, “three sheets to the wind” means that the vessel is completely out of control.

     “Three sheets to the wind” is also used to describe a man who is so drunk that he can no longer control himself. Alcohol has been the abuser of men, families, and humanity for generations. It is a destroyer that starts its destruction with the first drop. That is most certainly the reason that Proverbs 23:31 says, “Look not thou upon wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.” To even look at alcohol with the desire to drink it is a step in the wrong direction.

     Though some would argue the contrary, the Bible clearly teaches that drinking alcohol is wrong under any circumstances. However, the purpose of today’s devotion is not to point out those verses and argue those points; it is to give you a strong warning to avoid alcohol at all costs. Alcohol is the drink of death. Many young people have taken their first drink because they were pressured to do so by a “friend” who convinced them it would be “cool.” The devil does everything he can to use television commercials and printed advertisements to make people believe that alcohol brings only a good time and beautiful women. Nothing could be further from reality. There are thousands of stories readily accessible of successful men who made alcohol their companion. Its smell was horrendous and the taste even worse; still they chose to drink, and their lives were forever changed. What started as a small sip they thought they could control, turned into bottle after bottle until they drank away their success, their money, their families, and their lives. Then it was too late to get it all back.

     A wise young man will not even consider drinking alcohol. In addition to the many warnings in Scripture, Proverbs 23:32 says, “At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.” No young man would be foolish enough to play with a poisonous snake, and no young man should be foolish enough to try drinking alcohol. The first drink will set you on a long, lonely road to destruction from which there is no return.

Quote of the day: “I am more afraid of alcohol than of the bullets of the enemy.”  – Stonewall Jackson