Certainly, if you’ve been a drinker, your cooler had iced cold beer in it as you headed to the beach, or the lake, or the campground, on the boat, to the ball game. You name the summer activity, it was with you. And depending on the size of the gathering, there were either coolers with beer or kegs of beer. We were part of this crowd. Are you? Were you?
When we gave our lives over to Jesus Christ, the beer didn’t disappear. He met us and saved us just like we were, drunks and all the other stuff. He walked with us as we learned His truths about many things, but never demanded that we give something up right then or he’d leave us. In fact, He promised to never leave us or forsake us. Do you ever feel like God wants you to quit doing all the partying stuff to be able to come to him? Do you ever shy away from making a commitment to Christ because you think you’ll have to stop having fun? Brothers and sisters, Jesus knocks at our hearts door and asks to come in and be with us. He wants to teach us His ways, not condemn us for what we are like when we say, “I need you Jesus. I need a Savior. I need to be forgiven.”
Surely, the Bible speaks clearly about drunkards. God doesn’t want us to be drunks. He wants to help us be able to see our drunk selves the way He sees us: stumbling, often driving and endangering others, losing our moral compasses, saying and doing things we regret, setting in motion a legacy of drinking as a way of life for our children and grandchildren to come, not to mention the hangover, the nights we mix liquors and end up hugging a commode somewhere. When we take a good look at those aspects, is it any wonder that our loving Father would want us to stay away from those dangers?
He’s not shaking his finger at us, He’s longing for us to want to change. He’s longing for us to put something healthy in our coolers and learn how to have fun anyhow. If you’re ready to clear your cooler of alcohol and fill it up with some other cold beverage that has no chance to get you drunk, then please tell us what you plan to do. Tell us how it works out.
My cooler has ice cold Cokes, Coke Zero, Water, and Gatorade (some might not think that’s healthy, but it’s a start). I’m not worried any longer about being embarrassed about breaking some local ordinance with what’s in my cooler or not having drinks suitable for children. Let’s make a pact to pack our coolers expecting Jesus to have a cold one with us.