Balancing Acts

(Proverbs 23:20 KJV)  Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:

Each destructive activity mentioned here has an adjective in the NASB and KJV.  In the Hebrew each is one word.   Any way you look at it there are two problems.  One deals with alcohol, the other with food.  This is not an indictment of either but a call to moderation in both.

We are a people of excess.  I don’t have problems with alcohol.  I wish I could say the same for food.  Moderation is very hard for me.  I am currently controlling my food intake, most of the time.  The problem is the rest of the time.  The only way I can control some things is to avoid them altogether.  If I bring home one of those huge boxes of cheese crackers I will probably go through the entire thing in one setting.  It may not be “meat” (1320) but it is being a “gluttonous eater” (2151b).

So?  We need to be careful of what controls us.  In the Living Bible that I got 40 years ago there is a paraphrase of II Peter 2:19 that says, “For a man is a slave to whatever control him.”  Examine your day.  What sets the agenda and the priorities?  What confuses your focus?  It may not be wine or food.