Tiny Devotional for RED Friday, 11/20/2020

 A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors out there in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, Remember Everyone Deployed.

Wine is a mocker, intoxicating drink a brawler,
And whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise.
Proverbs 20:1, NASB


Wine is also a wonderful gift God gave us, for comfort and refreshment. However, because of my reckless abuse of the gift in younger years, it is a comfort denied to me on this side of the Jordan River.

My first coherent act this morning was to respond to a contact by someone with a similar history. It initiated a rich conversation, and in the course of it, it occurred to me:

Do I owe more to my children, or do they owe more to me?

Money only enters that equation as a trivial facet of the true indebtedness, debts of love. In fact, a person who owes only money HAS no real debt, but is incredibly poor. 
It is our indebtedness to others that makes us rich; it reflects the wealth we really possess.

Yeah, I said it. Roll THAT one around in your head and heart, and see if the edges EVER wear off.

Now, having laid that on you, let me circle back around to the proverb.

The point at which wine, or any other substance, shifts from a comfort to a plague, is PRECISELY the point at which it makes us forget the debt of love that we owe. and begin to accumulate other debts:
  • Debts of guilt, for things we do or don’t do. 
  • Debts of shame, for who we are. 
These are FAR more important than money debts, but also trivial in comparison to debts of love.
 

Peace be on your household.

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