Can a Beer Really Fix It?
“Beer Can’t Fix” is the misleading title to the popular country song by Thomas Rhett released in 2020. One of the stanzas contains the following words.
Oh, you could be lonely, heartbroken,
Or hung over from the night before.
Turn that frown into a smile real quick.
There ain’t nothing that a beer can’t fix.
An optimist might say, the song doesn’t intend to be harmful. The point is that, when a person is feeling down, having a beer with a friend is a good way to get things back to normal again. Yet if that is so, it’s the friendship that does the trick—not the alcohol. Frankly, your congenial editor (who sampled a brew more than sixty years ago before becoming a Christian) cannot imagine this solution to life’s problems to be more revolting. Beer tastes so awful that it almost makes green beans fit for human consumption. Almost. That grotesque flavor still lingers after six decades. Of course, others have different tastes.
Could the song have been written to accompany other vices? How about asserting, “There ain’t nothin’ that a joint can’t fix”? Or “a line of cocaine”? Or “methamphetamines”? Sure, it’s too many syllables, but the point should be obvious. And why stop with drugs? How about, “There ain’t nothin’ that a winning lottery ticket can’t fix”? Or “winning a jackpot”? Another panacea for life’s problems involves members of the opposite sex. For poetic purists, how about, “There ain’t nothin’ that a girl can’t fix”? (This song could have several sequels.)
All the physical solutions that someone might propose may bring into one’s life a little cheerfulness but cannot fix anything. It might provide a “bounce” for the moment, but physical pleasures soon fade, and the afflicted soul is right back where he started. God created us with physical appetites—and spiritual ones as well. The person with spiritual problems cannot be healed with ointment and a band-aid or a beer. The loneliness could be caused by a lack of hungering and thirsting for righteousness. It may be that a person knows just enough about the Bible to know that he has not been obeying it.
If things are not right with God, spending a night with all his rowdy friends is not going to mend it. Although this message may be sounding a little on the preachy side, the truth is that material things cannot improve our disposition or make us a better person. Some things can only be fixed spiritually. Following the Scriptures will bring much more satisfaction than alcohol. Knowing that we are pleasing our Creator provides much more confidence than any earthly solution.