Ephesians 5:17-21
"Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God."
I often see young soldiers coming of the post shoppette wearing a big grin on their faces, looking like little children getting away with something they shouldn't. "And what is it that they are doing?" you might ask. They're buying beer, ready to go back to their rooms and allow their bodies to be consumed by an alcoholic intoxication.
As believers, Paul reminds us through his letter to the Ephesians that the goal is not for alcohol to control our lives, but the intoxication of the Spirit's touch. Literally, we're to be drunk on God. Of course, this doesn't mean we lose control over bodily functions like one drunk on too much beer. And it doesn't mean we lose control over our minds and actions, like one whose thoughts are dulled by a few glasses of wine. Instead, we're to give over the control of our wills to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Sometimes we say that someone in love is intoxicated for the other person. They've become their whole reason for living, filling their every thought. Maybe that's what God wants from us—a love for Jesus Christ that is ever on our hearts and minds.
Notice how this intoxication of the Holy Spirit comes about. It begins with lifting up the name of the Lord through music. It is through the praises of worship that our focus moves to the Lord and away from the intoxicating relationship we often have with ourselves. Worship always does this. It moves our thoughts and priorities from the natural man to the spiritual man, from ourselves to our God.
LORD JESUS
Lord, I invite you to intoxicate my life with your daily and sustained presence that I may live a life pleasing to you. Amen.
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