Wine

​I recently read an article that the sale of red wine in Japan has skyrocketed.  A television show in that country extolled the benefits of drinking a little red wine each day in order to fight heart disease and cancer.  The Japanese are very health conscious and boast the highest life expectancy in the world. Naturally they responded to this report with the result that red wine sales quadrupled.

In our own country, the array of health products consumers are challenged to purchase is more than just a little mind-boggling.  Welcome to the world of vitamins, anti-oxidants, herbs, etc., etc. Melatonin is supposed to help people get to sleep or recover faster from jet lag.  If I get a cold I’m upset that Echinacea is not doing its job!  Even the male sex drive is getting a second wind from Viagra.  

Not many people want to die.  Consequently, there will always be a strong demand for remedies to improve and prolong life.  The next time someone offers you a new health tip or asks for your advice, why not share the greatest cure known to man!  God gave us guaranteed victory over sin and death through His precious Son—if we would just confess our sin, place our trust in Him by making Him our Savior and Lord. We carry in our hearts by faith, the key to eternal life—a forever life free of every pain or affliction known to man. A life in the presence of the Almighty filled with indescribable joy.
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We, who know and love Jesus Christ, have a ceremony we celebrate called communion.  We take a small piece of wafer or bread and eat it in remembrance of Jesus who allowed His body to be hung, pierced and destroyed to save our souls.  We drink a small cup of wine or juice to commemorate the blood that He shed on the cross for the remission of sins.  It is a sacred ceremony—one that the Apostle Paul wrote, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes”(1 Corinthians 11:26).  
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Some drink wine to forget and escape their problems.  Some drink hoping to avoid disease.  But the greatest drink is the cup lifted to honor in gratitude our champion—Jesus.  Something to think about . . . in reveration!
 
Meditation
1 Timothy 5:23--Don’t continue drinking only water, but use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.
 
Inspiration
It is bad to drink wine when you are in the dumps.—Oswald Chambers in Shade of His Hand
 
©1999 Daniel York  ARR. Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)