Start 2023 right by taking the 'Dry January' challenge

I’ve been working with high school students for nearly three decades, and the ones struggling the most come from homes where alcohol consumption has created hardships in work and home life. Sadly, I’ve seen it become a generational curse. I understand alcoholic generational curses because I battled against them myself. I lost my home life as a teen, and both my parents died in middle age due to alcoholism. We had been a church-going family. But that was before alcohol beat us all.

Our nation’s families deserve better foundations. As people of faith, we can lead by example. Are we? Perhaps we could use a Dry January to think about it.

The United Kingdom was the first to institute a Dry January as a public health initiative. The United States soon followed. It’s a personal challenge to abstain from alcohol for an entire month. Dr. Keith Heinzerling, addiction medicine specialist at the Pacific Neuroscience Institute in Santa Monica, California, says, “Taking time away from drinking even for just a few weeks, gives you a fresh perspective and the opportunity to break bad habits, you may have with alcohol.”

Alcohol leads to preventable health challenges like diabetes and heart disease, and it’s sneaky. A dependency can form, which can then lead to addiction. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, over 15 million Americans have alcohol use disorder. Many have lived through the destruction alcohol wrecks on their lives. Alcohol has contributed to problems like broken marriages, divided families, and damaged relationships. Christian homes are not immune from the issues related to alcohol consumption.

While there is not a single Bible verse that requires Christians to abstain from alcohol, there are many that warn about alcohol abuse. Verses in the Old Testament like Proverbs 20:1 and Isaiah 5:22 warn us of the dangers of alcohol. In the New Testament, like Ephesians 5:18, Romans 13:13, and Galatians 5:19-21, the Apostle Paul firmly warned about drunkenness.

As Christians, we possess a higher calling to honor God and to be set apart from the world. This includes senseless alcohol consumption. “For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry” — 1 Peter 4:3.

Making important decisions? Alcohol impairs that. Are you raising a family? Your kids are mimicking what you do.

Worse, if non-Christians see us using or abusing alcohol and acting in ways that are harmful, we are greatly hurting our witness for Christ. We are also neglecting our call to serve God. Pastor and author Max Lucado said it well, “One thing for sure, I have never heard anyone say, ‘A beer makes me feel more Christlike’ Fact of the matter is this: People don’t associate beer with Christian behavior.”

As we begin a new year and think about our personal resolutions for change, how about taking the Dry January challenge? If you’re not a drinker, you might consider helping someone you love to take the challenge. Living free from alcohol is a gift now and a gift for the future of those you love.