Sam Malone

Matthew 15:10-20

I watched a lot of TV growing up. One of those shows that I watched often was Cheers. One of the main characters was Sam Malone, the bar owner. He was a former baseball star who became and alcoholic and lost it all. He got sober somehow (I'm not sure of all the details) and became the proprietor of the bar called "Cheers". The thing I never really noticed about the show, was the juxtaposition of the alcoholic bartender (I was too young to realize the implications). Sam was surrounded by the very thing that destroyed him, yet it seemed to be powerless to affect him. Sam always had a bottle of water in his hand.

Really, all of the things that surround us are powerless against us. Whether it's alcohol, drugs, chocolate, pornography, shopping, etc. etc. etc., these things in and of themselves have no power. They cannot make us "unclean", as Jesus says. The ceremonial laws about washing hands and such didn't really matter because they couldn't change what was on the inside of a person. No amount of ceremony is going to make me less lustful or addicted or whatever. There needs to be a change on the inside.

Sam Malone was by no means portrayed as a believer, but something had changed in him to where he no longer was tempted by the alcohol that surrounded him. It's easy to have those sorts of happy endings on TV, in real life, I think it's a little more difficult. The Buddhist must get rid of all desires, but it's easier said than done. Sure, people have the capacity to change themselves. People kick addictions all the time. Bad habits are broken and good ones are formed. But I think that deep down inside we are left unchanged until God does a work in our hearts. The change needed is so drastic that He says He will remove our hearts of stone and replace them with hearts of flesh. The Buddhist and the celebrity rehabbers are left on their own to change themselves, but the gift of God is the Holy Spirit which helps us to be the people God has intended us to be. That is the only way we can be truly changed... from the inside out.