|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18, NIV).
Dealing with difficult times, we can either walk in the flesh or be filled with the Spirit.
We might say after a tense moment, “I need a drink,” but have we said during trials, “I need to be filled with the Spirit”? Ephesians 5:18 teaches a reliance on God that, during discouragement, should cause us to say, “Give me a drink of the Spirit!”
I’ve considered why Paul uses the phrase “don’t get drunk on wine” in contrast with “be filled with the Spirit.” Getting drunk in the same verse as filled with the Spirit. . .
HHHHMMMHHM!
Understanding the meaning of the original words helps our confusion. At least it did mine.
In the Greek, “debauchery” is “asozotia.” Also, in the Greek, “salvation” is “sozo.” When you add the prefix “a” to “sozo” and then the suffix “tia,” the meaning of “salvation” or “sozo” changes to “asozotia“or “without salvation.”
Wow, sometimes I get too excited about the Greek! So, let me go a step further.
“Sozo” or “salvation” means a complete healing by the Holy Spirit of our spirit, soul, and body. “Asozotia,” translated as “debauchery,” means “without salvation” — indicating actions that destroy our spirit, soul, and body.
We should be filled with the Spirit instead of drinking, shopping, sexual perversion, fame, or anything that, while alluring, ultimately leads to debauchery or the tarnishing of our spirit, soul, and body.
We want salvation, not addiction with incorrigible attitudes. We want healing of our spirit, soul, and body. Jesus taught that “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them” (John 7:38).
Amen, give me a drink of the Spirit. Better yet, give me two!
“Be filled with the Spirit” is a command! It’s not an option. When we disguise evil as good, justifying decisions of debauchery, it leads to spiritual, psychological, and physical death.
Romans 8:13 says, “If [we] live according to the flesh [we] will die, but if by the Spirit [we] put to death the deeds of the Spirit, [we] will live.” Then Paul adds in 2 Corinthians 3:17, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
Let’s have a drink together, not of wine, but of the Spirit!