I Want A New Drug

I WANT A NEW DRUG

INTRODUCTION: If you're a child of the 80's like me you are no doubt familiar with this song from Huey Lewis and the News. The song is filled with statements regarding the kinds of things Huey doesn't want his new drug to do like-make him sick, make him nervous, cost too much, or come in a pill. One that won't keep him up all night or make him sleep all day. He says he wants, "one that makes me feel like I feel when I'm with you".

Perhaps Huey's point was that the way he felt when he was with his special lady was something he hadn't been able to find in anything man made. In thinking of this I see how we need to think the same way. We go through life looking for the things that make us feel good; the things that get us high. And yet at some point we realize that these things aren't cutting it; they're not fulfilling-we know there's something missing.

So, in essence, we are saying, 'I want a new drug'. And then we find Christ and that void is filled; we have that 'new drug'. And we come to realize that there's no drug that will make us feel like we feel when we're with Jesus.

1) The 'value' of the old drug.

Although the bible highlights the dangers that alcohol can cause, this is a principle that can apply to other things as well. So when we read bible verses that pertain to alcohol, we can also insert whatever our drug of choice is and no doubt come to the same conclusions. Prov. 20:1, "Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise."

The Family Bible Notes commentary for this verse reads, "Since wine and strong drink darken the reason, bring the soul under the control of excitement and passion, and thus prepare it for folly and wickedness of every sort, no wise man will give himself up to their power."

A mocker and a brawler. Alcohol can turn us into someone who is verbally abusive and physically abusive. If we are wise we will not be taken captive by it. Satan can glamorize alcohol to make it appealing. The commercials make drinking look elegant or fun. Alcohol can help us to relax. It can help us to be more sociable. And although we might avoid getting sloshed, perhaps we do like catching a buzz.

These are some ways that we can be led astray. We get caught up in the glamorization of alcohol and then set ourselves up for falling into the trap that it sets for us. From a sermon by Curtis Rowe, "Wisdom for Successful Living": Killer Alcohol. Thomas Edison was asked why he didn't drink. The scientist replied, "I have a better use for my brain."

An E.R. Doctor wrote, "Recently we saw another preview of hell in the Parkland Hospital in Dallas. A woman struck down by a drunken driver. Four other drunks with lacerations and stab wounds waiting to be treated. Night after night, year after year, the same bloody trail of horror, major automobile accidents, stabbings, rapes, wife-beatings, nightly emergencies treated and released or admitted to the hospital or pronounced dead on arrival.

I wonder if there is that much joy to be gained from the total consumption of all beers and whiskies ever made, ever to equal even a small fraction of the innocent suffering, the damaged bodies, the broken marriages, the discarded children, the total brutalities and crimes that will inevitably accompany its use. What a quiet place our emergency room would be if alcohol was abolished from our city!"

Who costs the American people 130 billion dollars every year? Who destroys 1 in every 4 families in America? Who kills over 200,000 Americans each year? The undisputed heavy-weight champion of the drug world is alcohol." These are some of the "values" of the old drug.

Prov. 23:29-35, "Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine. Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly!

In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper. Your eyes will see strange sights and your mind imagine confusing things. You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging. “They hit me,” you will say, “but I’m not hurt! They beat me, but I don’t feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?”

Woe, sorrow, strife, needless bruises and bloodshot eyes. Sounds like fun, right?! Bed spins and beer muscles are always enjoyable. All these wonderful joys of the old drug and then we get up and do it all over again. We have all these wonderful results from alcohol but yet we are led astray by how tantalizing it looks, how good it tastes and how smooth it goes down. We go out and pound them down and because we aren't feeling anything right away we think everything is fine and then all of a sudden it hits us.