“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” Ephesians 5:18
When a person in Australia has had too much to drink, Aussies may euphemistically say, “She’s under the weather.” When an American has imbibed too much, there are dozens and dozens of slang words and expressions to describe this state of being. One way of saying a person is drunk is, “He’s under the influence.” The implication is that one’s normal and more controlled behavior has been overridden by the presence of alcohol.
In Ephesians 5:18, Paul indicates two contrasting substances with which a person can be filled. He warns against drunkenness, which can lead to wasting one’s life away—remember Jimmy Buffet’s old song about Margaritaville? Paul then urges an intoxicating alternative: believers are to imbibe deeply of the Holy Spirit. Paul seems to be saying, “If you’re going to be ‘under the influence,’ place yourself under the influence of the Spirit of God.”
A friend of mine who is in the Narcotics Anonymous program, introduced me several years ago to a simple phrase that has relevance for this discussion. The phrase is “Don’t interfere.” It speaks to the tendency of a recovering addict to sabotage and subvert the healing process. “Don’t interfere” begins with the assumption that God wants to bring about wholeness in your life, and that following the Twelve Steps can help in that process. However, we all have the capacity to thwart and hamper the good that God wants to do in our lives. Hence the warning, “Don’t interfere.”
Can you see how this phrase might apply to the work of God’s Holy Spirit within a Christian’s life? God’s Spirit is seeking to guide you along healthier paths, to build new habits and virtues in your character, to bring the transformative influence of Christ to bear on your life. We have the capacity either to cooperate with the Spirit’s work in us or to suppress it. Hence Paul’s warning in 1 Thessalonians 5:19, “Do not quench the Spirit.” Or as N.A. puts it, “Don’t interfere!”
How can you tell if you’re under the beneficial influence of the Spirit? One way is that the Spirit’s fruit is blossoming in your life: love, joy, peace, and so on. (Galatians 5:22-23). Another is that a Spirit-filled person will exercise her God-given gifts to glorify God and serve others (Romans 12:3-8; I Peter 4:8-11). The Holy Spirit will also confirm to us that we are God’s children, granting us confidence in our relationship with the Father (Romans 8:15-16). May we never grieve the Spirit (Ephesians 4:30), but eagerly be filled by His life-transforming influence.
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