SafeGuards

Those of you that know me, and as others can tell by this website, I operate a vineyard and winery. I have many opportunities to taste wine during the production and aging of the wine we make, and have many other opportunities simply to enjoy wine. I sincerely believe wine is a gift to us to be celebrated and enjoyed in moderation. There are many gifts that God has given us (such as wine, food, sex, sports - to name a few) that can offer great enjoyment in our life if used within God's perfect will. If these same gifts are used "outside" of God's perfect will, they can be enormous stumbling blocks into sin.

"Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit."
Ephesians 5:18

Because I choose to enjoy the gift of wine, I have to be careful to keep the enjoyment of this gift within the will of God. One of the safeguards I have set in place to help ensure this is that I do not taste of drink any wine during the month of January. I have set this time aside to make sure that I have not made an "idol" out of wine. We definitely have the capacity within us to make an idol, that comes before God, out of any of the gifts that He has given us. We all have different tendencies for sin due to our nature and hopefully we all know what our individual ones are. Therefore, we have to guard ourselves against them and not put ourselves in situations of temptation.

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."
1 Corinthians 10:13

Anyway, we all hopefully know the tendencies of our sin nature. Set up some safeguards in your life to help ensure that enjoyable gifts from God are a blessing to Him. Try to avoid situations that you know will provide temptation, but if you are tempted, look quickly and adamantly for the back door that He will provide you