Have you heard this before?

“I can do whatever I want to because in Genesis 1:31 God declared all things good.”

“The Bible doesn’t say that what I’m doing is sin.”

“Everyone is doing it, so it must be okay.”

Listen! If you talk like this, I would like to ask you this: This thing that you are doing, are you doing it in the name of God the Father and Jesus Christ? Are you doing it to give glory, honour, and praise to Christ? Colossians 3:17 says, “And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.” Why do you do what you do?

I want to talk about something that many of us do that many other Christians and even non-Christians find offensive. What am I talking about? Chewing buai and smoking. Do you think it is okay for a Christian to chew buai and smoke? Is this a sin or not?

What does the Bible say? We need to know what God thinks about these habits. First, we need to understand that God has created us. God made our bodies and our spirit, and He made us in His own image (Genesis 1:26-27). This means that we must use our body and spirit to worship God, pray to Him, and obey Him. These are God’s highest priorities for us, and this is how God receives glory, honour, and praise forever.

But sin has come and messed up our lives. Sin brings death and all kinds of pain and suffering to our body and spirit. And because of sin, men and women do all kinds of things to bring pain and suffering to their own bodies. The habit of chewing buai and smoking is one of the things that destroys our bodies. Chewing buai causes mouth cancer, tooth decay, ulcers, gum disease, heart disease, and even death. Smoking is similar. It causes lung cancer, mouth cancer, tooth and gum disease, eye infections, diabetes, and death.

Think about it. If you chew buai and smoke, who are you going to blame when you become sick or you have pain in your body? Will you blame God? Will you blame someone else? It is not anyone else’s fault, it is your own. You didn’t listen and wanted to do as you pleased.

Maybe you will say to me, “No, buai and smoking aren’t ruling my life. I only chew (or smoke) for fun.” But how do you know if this thing is ruling your life?

• If it is making you sick and destroying your body, but you are still chewing buai and smoking, then it is ruling your life! It is an addiction! You are destroying the very body that God has given you.
• If you don’t listen to the instructions of your church leaders and you chew buai and smoke on your church property, it is clear that this habit is ruling you. God has given authority to the church leaders but you aren’t willing to submit to them (Hebrews 13:7-8).
• If you ignore the laws about where you are not allowed to smoke or about not chewing and spitting buai in public places, then it is clear that it is ruling your life. God has appointed our political leaders, but you refuse to listen to them (Romans 13:1-2).
• If you buy buai or tobacco or cigarettes, but you don’t have enough money to support your family and buy food, school fees, medicine, etc, then it is clear that buai and smoking are ruling your life. God has given you the responsibility of looking after the needs of your family (Ephesians 6:4, 1 Timothy 5:8).
• If your chewing buai and smoking is a stumbling block to another brother or sister and is causing them to sin, then God calls you to quit. God wants us to care about the spiritual well-being of our brothers and sisters in Christ.