Ephesians 5:18
18 And [kai] be [methusko] not [me] drunk [methusko] with wine, [oinos] wherein [en] [hos] is [esti] excess; [asotia] but [alla] be filled [pleroo] with [en] the Spirit; [pneuma] KJV-Interlinear
18 And
do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the
Spirit, NASB
Drunk, ‘methusko,’ means
to be intoxicated, delusional, compromised, detached from reality, escaped as
in an attempt to leave or run away or depart.
Wine is actually wine,
but also refers to effervesce or bubbly, fermented, banqueting as one indulges
in the enticements of life.
And this verse certainly
refers to the intake of alcoholic beverages, but it also refers to anything
that is taken that produces a compromised mental state, so this includes drugs
or things that one uses to escape reality.
And, surprise, surprise,
this also includes the temptations of the world. This is because the intoxicating effects of
the world are being compared to the effects of the Spirit.
The Spirit here is a
reference to the Holy Spirit.
So we are not just
talking about drinking, but all forms of aversion to the spiritual life.
When you are not in
fellowship, you are under the control of your sin nature.
Sin has two areas within
it. The first is its strength, which is
human good, and the second is its weakness which is sin. The sin natures functional range is from the
extremes of asceticism, to the extremes of lasciviousness and everything in
between.
Certainly we can all
understand acts of crime or lustful sexual behavior, but the biggest flaw that
people have is in their indifferent attitude toward God, Christ, doctrine and
their spiritual life. And the worst of that is, that those same people believe
that they are in fact spiritual, but just have their own version of what they
believe is spiritual.
So they talk the talk,
but do not walk the walk.
In other words, they like
the ease of doing nothing except appearing to be spiritual to others, and they
do not like the perceived work of actually studying, and confessing, and
obeying Gods actual mandates for following the very specific process of the
spiritual life.
So, they are intoxicated
with their own ideas, their own definitions of what is spiritual. And we know that being intoxicated means
being compromised in ones ability to perceive reality, having faulty reflexes,
being slower to grasp things or concepts, not being able to see or think or
function properly, and so forth.
And that is what life is
when you do not follow Gods plan of the spiritual life.
So, wake up, stop wasting
time in this life, because you do not have that much time for wasting. You do not know when God will call you
home.
We have all seen how
simply going to a movie or riding in a car, can end up in your fatality. And when life is over, it is over.
Do not live under delusional
beliefs. Do not continue to pursue the
infant concepts of the Christian life, but pursue the greater concepts of
maturity.
The baby enjoys the
benefits of the baby’s life. The mature
individual enjoys the benefits of the mature persons life.
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