A Reality Party (Psalms 51:4)

“Yeah, it’s really easy to get the alcohol. If you know the person at the store, they will let you buy it. And everyone has a friend who is over 21.”

The young teenaged girl cooly described how she and and her peers were able to obtain alcohol for their parties. My wife and I were attending a reality party. Held in a private home, a group of teenagers from the local high school acted out a variety of scenarios that involved underage drinking, drug use, and sex. As the groups of parents migrated from the different rooms, we witnessed drinking games, fights, medical emergencies, even discussions of rape.

I am thankful for the high school administration and concerned parents who orchestrated this reality party for our community. It is a wakeup call to every parent that underage drinking is a pervasive and deadly problem and unless parents and families work together and confront this tragedy, it will continue.

It was disturbing and alarming because it is real and happening in every community, ruining lives, sometimes for a lifetime. It was ugly.

Sin is always ugly.

We may try to sugarcoat it and cloak it under different names and banners, but it is still detestable and repulsive. We may think it is someone else’s problem or child. We may think that this would never happen in our community or home. But it is a problem for everyone and every family. When confronted with these facts, we can chose to look away or do something about it. But it IS our problem.

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.

Psalms 51:4 (ESV)

Like the reality party, the Bible confronts us with our own sins. We may sugarcoat our sins and shift the blame to our parents or an abusive boss. We may blame our schools or the media. We may even blame our genetic makeup. But unless we take responsibility and acknowledge that sin is our reality, it will continue to ruin our lives and those whom we love. We need to deal with sin immediately and decisively. It is not someone else’s problem. It is ours. And we need to answer to God, who created us, and confess and repent of our sins and seek His forgiveness and direction.

This is the reality party for our life.

Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.