The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/numbers/6.htm

I used to say, “The Lord gave me 50 good years of drinking, and I used them up in the first 7 years in which I was legal.”

I have always been a believer, but I haven’t always been a Christian, which I describe as “following Christ”. There were many years in which I did what pleased me instead of doing what pleased God. But now that I’m trying desperately to be a good Christian, I no longer drink.

At one time, I didn’t believe that when the Bible spoke of wine, it was truly speaking about fermented grape juice, but now I don’t know. The origin of the word “wine” comes from the word “vine”, so my opinion was that when the Bible mentioned wine, it was simply speaking of grape juice.

 3he shall separate himself from wine and similar drink; he shall drink neither vinegar made from wine nor vinegar made from similar drink; neither shall he drink any grape juice, nor eat fresh grapes or raisins.

This verse clearly makes a distinction between wine and grape juice. And whether or not God gives me understanding, I now abstain from strong drinks like wine, beer, and hard liquor. Why? Because I am weak and it is strong. I don’t consider myself an alcoholic, but I am an addictive person, right now my greatest addiction is food; you can tell that my looking at me, which in itself is a sin, I confess.

But I know that some cannot simply stop at one glass of wine. It lowers our inhibitions, which feels good, and makes us want another glass of wine (or beer, or whiskey). And eventually, we’ve had more and more because it feels so good, we end up intoxicated, our inhibitions are pretty much all gone, and we are in such an altered mental state we can no longer control ourselves. It’s hard enough to stay on the straight and narrow, let alone remove our inhibitions. And that is what Satan wants, he wants us to be out of our mind so we commit more sin.

So, regardless of whether or not it is against God’s law to drink wine or not, the Bible also warns against drinking “strong drink” and being a “drunkard”.

The reason we are on the subject of wine, it is because this chapter discusses how a person should act when they take a vow to be a Nazarite. One of today’s many definitions of a Nazarite is The Nazirite/Nazarite vow is taken by individuals who have voluntarily dedicated themselves to God.”

Some definitions say it was during Biblical times, but what is Biblical time? Are we not in Biblical time now? Another said it was Israelites that took the vow, but didn’t we all come from Noah and that region of the earth.

And yes, I’m selective, but I like the verse I just quoted.

A “person”, not just an Israelite, not just someone from the past, who “dedicates their life to God”. As Christians, have we not all chosen to dedicate our lives to God?

That said, shouldn’t we all be “Nazarites”, regardless of whether or not we specifically call ourselves “Nazarites”.

This chapter of Exodus describes what a Nazarite must follow, of the first, pertaining to grapes and the byproduct of grapes. Did God mean that we shouldn’t eat grapes? I don’t know. Would it hurt us not to eat grapes? I haven’t eaten a grape in years now, not intentionally abstaining from them, I just don’t eat a lot of fruit. I used to love dates, until I became a diabetic, and now they’re a no-no. I know it is natural sugar and not refined sugar, and I know dates are good for you, but now that I have succumbed to diabetes, dates are no longer on my menu.

So Nazarites should abstain from grapes, and wines, and wine vinegar, and Samson, who was a Nazarite, even walked through a vineyard once, that some say were against his vows.

A Nazarite should also never cut their hair, or at least, “no razor shall touch their head”. Does that mean we should all walk around with hair hanging down to our, excuse the word, buttocks? I don’t know, I’m praying for understanding, but so far, I have no answer. I do know that I have a beard, and I’m growing it out as long as I can, but it’s seemed to reach it maximum length. It seems the ends of my beard become brittle and break off. Was that God’s plan? You grow your hair out and it will naturally control itself? Again, I don’t know.

Nazarites were also supposed to stay away from unclean things, in fact, Samson sinned when he ate honey from the dead lion because a lion is not a clean animal. But as I have said before, sometimes the Bible gives more examples of how we should not live as opposed to examples of how we should live. It also reminds us that we are all sinners, and keeps us from feeling hopeless and helpless.

Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Cain killed his brother. Abraham did not trust in God, and had Ismael through his servant Hagar, a surrogate mother.

Noah was a drunk. Moses killed an Egyptian out of anger. Sampson killed many men because he lost a bet. David committed adultery and murder, and the list goes on and on. Sometimes we learn from others’ mistakes.

Study this chapter and pray to God for understanding. Are we all “Nazarites” in the sense of the word because we have dedicated our lives to God? Should we all abstain from eating a grape? (This may sound silly, but remember, there was a forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden). Should we all let our hair grow long?

I don’t have the answer. I know that there was a resident in a nearby town that publicly displayed his faith at his home. You would drive by and they always had multiple signs out with Bible verses on them, signs that begged us to repent, and other signs of their faith. And they were ridiculed for being a “religious nut”. Should we being doing these things, but in our material world and culture today, if we did follow the rules, would we be considered “going overboard”?

Remember, this is my study of the Bible. I am certainly not smart enough to interpret and run my own life, I’m certainly not going to suggest how you should run your life. All I can tell you is to study the Bible, pray for understanding, and let the Lord speak to your heart.