Across Manchester and Greater Manchester “alcohol related deaths are higher than the national average.”

If you’re reading this page, you’re probably worried about yourself, or someone you know. You may have asked Google or ChatGPT for help.

Here’s the thing: However much you drink, alcohol isn’t your primary problem. It’s your false solution.

It’s a false solution that creates lots of problems of its own. But alcohol is not the thing that defines you. It’s not the thing that controls you. Something else does that, and alcohol is just one of many things you use to solve that deeper problem.

Why Rules Alone Don’t Solve the Deeper Problem

People turn to all sorts of false solutions to solve that deeper problem. We often swing between two opposite, but false, solutions. One is licence: giving ourselves permission to escape into alcohol. The other is legalism: trying to fix ourselves through rules and willpower alone. The Bible tells us there’s problems with both.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably already aware to some extent of the dangers of licence. Drinking too much to numb yourself, forget your problems, or escape from the ordinariness of life causes all sorts of problems of its own. Here’s what a book of ancient wisdom in the Bible says:

Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise. (Proverbs 20:1)

On the other hand, legalism doesn’t solve your problems either. The apostle Paul, one of Jesus’ key spokesmen, wrote this:

“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. (Colossians 2:21-23)

Why does Paul say this? Because alcohol is not your deepest problem. Perhaps, in trying to solve or numb your inner problems by drinking too much, you’ve created even more complex external problems for yourself. But even if you stopped drinking forever right now, the reason you started drinking would still be there.

The Bible says that the deepest issue is not simply what we do, but what rules our hearts. We are always looking for something to tell us that we are safe, worthwhile or acceptable. That’s why the apostle Paul also writes elsewhere:

“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. (1 Corinthians 6:12)

What is it that defines you? Because that is the thing that dominates you. All of us are defined and dominated by something.

The question is this: Does the thing that dominates us work by demand and punishment, or grace and forgiveness?

The Bible warns us that our sin, the world and the devil want to dominate and define us by demand and punishment. You need to achieve something, or prove something, or be something. You have to do that—or else. We feel that pressure. We feel a cycle of success and failure. Alcohol is one of the false solutions we turn to when that cycle gets too intense.

But the Bible promises us that Jesus is Lord, and rules by grace and forgiveness. He achieved everything for you. He died for every failure. And he has given you his righteousness. There is nothing left for you to prove. You don’t have to earn God’s forgiveness. He wants to give it to you freely, and assure you of it.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ can be summarised simply like this: Your failures are not lord. Your ambitions are not lord. Your problems are not lord. Alcohol is not lord.

Jesus is Lord.

And he’s a Lord who died for you. Forgives you. And loves you.

Where to Find Practical Help

If you’ve become entangled with alcohol, it is good to ask for practical help early. Alcohol may have become a false solution to a deeper problem, but it can also create serious problems of its own. You do not need to deal with those problems alone:

• If you may be physically dependent on alcohol, do not suddenly stop drinking without medical advice: alcohol withdrawal can be dangerous. Speak to your GP or a local alcohol service about reducing your drinking safely.
• If you are in immediate danger, feel unable to keep yourself safe, or need urgent medical help, call 999 or go to A&E.
• Change Grow Live Manchester is Manchester’s local drug and alcohol service.
• Alcoholics Anonymous offers support from other people who have struggled with alcohol, call the free helpline on 0800 917 7650.
• Al-Anon offers confidential support for family members and friends affected by someone else’s drinking: 0800 0086 811.
• Eclypse Manchester: If you are aged 25 or under and live in Manchester, Eclypse offers free and confidential support for your own drinking or someone else’s: 0161 839 2054.

Where to Receive God’s Forgiveness

But as well as making use of this practical and medical help that God has given you, God wants to assure you that you are forgiven and unconditionally loved.

He gives you that forgiveness and assurance through his means of grace in the church.

That is why Manchester Lutheran Church exists: to proclaim that forgiveness clearly.

You can join us in person in Manchester every Sunday. Check out this link for service details: https://manchesterlutheran.church/sundays/

Or, if you’re outside Manchester, join us online from anywhere every Wednesday for the Confessional Lutheran Church online service.