The drunken husband snuck up the stairs quietly.
He looked in the bathroom mirror and bandaged the bumps and bruises he’d received in a fight earlier that night.
He then proceeded to climb into bed, smiling at the thought that he’d pulled one over on his wife.
When morning came, he opened his eyes and there stood his wife.
“You were drunk last night weren’t you!”
“No, honey.”
“Well, if you weren’t, then who put all the band-aids on the bathroom mirror?”
When people consume too much alcohol it alters their thinking; changes their desires and motivations, and strongly influences or even controls their actions.
In Ephesians 5:18, we read:
“Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Being filled with the Holy Spirit alters our thinking; changes our desires and motivations, and strongly influences or even controls our actions—but unlike drinking excessive alcohol, the Spirit’s control brings glory to God.
Specifically in this verse it says we should not let wine (any alcohol or drugs) control us, but the Holy Spirit.
Both exert a force that is internal.
The phrase “be filled” is a passive command.
It amounts to letting the Holy Spirit who indwells us, control us completely.
We do this by trusting Him to fill us as we moment-by-moment yield to Him.
The wine that fills a person controls every area of his or her life if they consume too much of it.
Drunkenness results in behavior that is not in line with God’s Word.
Likewise the believer, who allows the Holy Spirit to influence and direct his thinking and behavior, will experience His control as long as he maintains that relationship to the Spirit.
The phrase “be filled with the Holy Spirit” is in the present tense and literally reads, “be being kept filled by the Spirit.”
This is a command in the original, so this is our ongoing responsibility and is not optional.
The filling of the Spirit means that my whole being belongs to Christ.
Speaking to a large audience, D.L. Moody held up a glass and asked, “How can I get the air out of this glass?”
One man shouted, “Suck it out with a pump!”
Moody replied, “That would create a vacuum and shatter the glass.”
After numerous other suggestions Moody smiled, picked up a pitcher of water, and filled the glass.
“There,” he said, “all the air is now removed.”
He then went on to explain that victory in the Christian life is not accomplished by “sucking out a sin here and there,” but by being filled with the Holy Spirit.
May we allow the Holy Spirit to consistently fill us!
Blessings!
Pastor Ken Keeler, Director of Church Ministries