Christian Living

And do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.
I was reading/listening today about the consequences of being filled with the Spirit as opposite of being "drunk with wine".
It is rather interesting that sometimes we tend to have a very shallow understanding of some verses in the Bible. At times we tend very literal, in other circumstances we  look at Scriptures and think it does not apply to our "modern way of living" and even worse sometimes reject some verses simply because our sinful nature has difficult accepting God's unchangeable standards.
Well that's not quite the point of this post but anyway, we will get there...

Being drunk expresses a lack of self- control, it shows that you are not in charge of your thinking, you don't have power over your faculties.
The application of this passage is much vaster than we actually think about.
How often we are so filled with Tv news but not filled with the understanding of the gospel?
How often we are so filled with our worldly thinking or worries that we forget to seek the Lord in prayer?
How often we are so excited about a new movie coming up, or one that we just watched but can't really remember what was the passage we read in our devotional time?

I know that at times our hearts are so hardened that we barely see the implications of those things in our lives, but in general I think most of time we don't even realise how much we've being drinking of this world's thinking, standards and way of living...we get that kinda messed up understanding caused by our minds has been immersed into too much "wine".
The word of God calls us rather to " be filled with the Spirit" which implies seeking God through His word,  learning His will and praying. This passage also tells us what are the immediate consequences of being 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.


As a first consequence we have fellowship with one another. We share what we have learned, we make mention of what the Lord has done in our lives, we encourage and build up one another. We simply talk of what is the most important thing in our lives which is to please Him that has shown so much love toward us.
The second consequence of being filled with the Spirit is sing and praise God , having a heart full of adoration and praise towards the One that not only saved us but also adopted us as dear children (Ephesians 5:1).
All Spiritual coldness is a direct consequence of not being filled with the Spirit.
The next consequence is "giving thanks".We can safely assume that a discontent, ungrateful heart is caused by not been filled with the Spirit.
At last the fourth consequence is to submit to one another in the fear of God, considering others better than ourselves. It is to seek for ways to serve the brethren and bless their lives. An obvious consequence of not being filled with the Spirit is looking on other fellow Christians with contempt, and not considering them superior to ourselves.

If we really want to know how to live the Christian life it can be summarised in a sentence:

"Be filled with the Spirit".

Anyone thirsty??

Ps: you can listen to these sermons on Christian Living here and here.

In Christ

J Roque