Oh, And By the Way

06.23.13

1 Timothy 5.23 23 (No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.) (ESV)

Paul later wrote, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (Cf. 2 Timothy 3.16-17) My firm conviction is if we fail to see the humanness of Scripture, we’ll fail to see the God-ness of it all. All Scripture is God breathed – it comes from the breath of God’s mouth. It is holy and good and right to help us teach, rebuke, correct, and train. Everything we need to live life spiritually successful is in the Bible. Even what Paul told Timothy regarding water and wine.

I can just see the scene: Paul dictating this letter to someone who scribes for him and right in the middle of 1 Timothy 5.17-25 he has an “oh-by-the-way moment”: Timothy, by the way, quit drinking only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and frequent ailments. Paul needed to remind Timothy of that, and it popped into his mind, and he inserted it in the Script. That was the humanness of it.

Recently I had the privilege of praying for a woman at church who complained of feeling light-headed and dizzy, and I felt like the Spirit of God wanted me to tell her: drink more water. I’m not a doctor nor a dietician but I do know the benefit of drinking water and I felt like the Holy Spirit wanted me to tell her that, so I did. (I also don't think I'm some spiritual grandee dispensing wisdom like candy.)

There is a practical side to our religion I think many miss because it’s not clothed in mystery, mystique, or the miraculous. Drink some wine Timothy and quit making this all into some grand spiritual story of God’s miraculous divine intervention with angels and realms of glory: drink some wine for crying out loud. Paul wasn’t advocating alcohol abuse, just living practically.

I don’t want to dismiss or down play the miraculous but I do want to say that sometimes life is quietly more practical and if we quit trying to dismiss that then we’ll find the answers to our problems may be as simple as drinking more water – or in this instance, drinking less. Truly there is a deeper side to Scripture, but there is also a shallower side. Not everyone can swim in the deep end of the pool and the shallow end is there for learning and practice for the newbie.

Today I am reminded of the simplicity of life, which is not exclusive from Scripture, but inclusive within. Timothy, son, there is a simple remedy which I truly believe will help you and here is what it is...

Many of us (yours truly included) need to remember that by trying to make it all grand and glorious is somewhat the same as trying to put God into a box in order to convince ourselves that our faith is really real. We needn’t do that – sometimes it’s as simple as simple advice and knowing that God knows and cares about our stomach and frequent ailments and doesn’t need for us to seek a miraculous cure; He just needs us to use our heads, have a little wine to help or increase our intake of fluids to make life better. Amen? I think I need a glass of water...