“Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18 NLT).
Two commands are given here, with the first being illustrative to help understand and emphasize the second. They are: First, Don’t allow your mind and senses to be dulled and dissipated under the influence of alcohol. And second, instead, be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit, so that your mind and body are always under the Spirit’s influence.
Being filled with the Spirit is not a one and done command, but a continuous, moment by moment one. Not because the Spirit leaves us, for He never leaves those He has sealed. But because we must continually drink from the Spirit as from a fountain that abides within us. Remember that Christ told the woman at the well that those who asked from Him would receive “living water” that would become in them a “fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14).
Wine has the effect of dulling our senses and inhibitions, so that we are more exposed to temptation and apt to sin. This degraded state of mind leads to “ruin.” However, being under the Spirit’s control, our conscience is renewed and our discernment enlarged, so that we have increased power to resist sin. When we drink to get drunk, we develop a dependency on alcohol. We tell ourselves that we need it; that we must have it to cope with life. Yet, the secret of living the abundant life is continuously drawing on and living according to the Spirit’s filling, so that our dependency is on the life of the Spirit to live.
PRAYER: Dear Father, thank You for giving us Your Holy Spirit on the day of our salvation. We put off dependency on anything that isn’t of the Spirit. We want to depend “wholly” on the “Holy” Spirit. Fill us afresh today. We would drink deeply until every aspect of our lives come under His divine influence and power. In Jesus’ name, amen.