The Modern Pour

Serving size and spiritual growth.

Would you like a five-ounce or a nine-ounce pour? This feels like a trick question from the bartender.

If you say the five-ounce, you look responsible; if you say the nine-ounce, you may get a raised eyebrow.

I take my chances and go for the nine.

In pondering the amount of my usual Cabernet pour at home, I would say that it falls somewhere between sensible and substantial, but I never measured it out precisely. I eyeball it.

Having a glass or two of wine is a way to unwind at the end of the day or enjoy social time with family and friends. Cheers!

I didn't think much about how it related to my life until I listened to the Bible in a Year Podcast, which read Amos 6:4-7.

Woe to those who lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat lambs from the flock, and calves from the midst of the stall; who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp, and like David invent for themselves instruments of music; who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!

My first thought was how much this verse sounds like our modern-day Happy Hours, but the real standout words for me were Amos 6:4 “(Those)…who drink wine in bowls…”

It never ceases to amaze me how, even though we live in such different times, the lessons of the Bible are as important to us as they were to our ancestors.

My mother-in-law has antique wine glasses that she gets out on holidays. Beautiful, crystal goblets that hold what seems to be equivalent to 5cc’s of a medicine spoon. In comparison, the modern wine glass could be viewed as a bowl.

It’s not a sin to enjoy and relax socially with alcohol, but are my decisions around drinking wine, relaxing, and socializing prudent?

I may need to revisit my 9oz pour selection, or consider thrift shopping for the smaller wine glass set of yesteryear.

Have you had a Bible passage speak right to your current lifestyle choices? What’s your story?