Do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but filled with the Spirit Ephesians 5:18
When I was growing up, I was a pretty good basketball player. I was good enough that the older guys would allow me to play with them. I’ll never forget, one hot summer day after playing a few games of full court ball, I saw one of my brothers friends, named Steve drinking a 40 ounce of beer. I looked up to Steve and thought he was one of the coolest guys in the neighborhood. I proceeded over to Steve and asked if I could have a sip of his beer. I did not expect to hear the response he gave me. He exclaimed, “a sip?'“ “Who ask for a sip of beer?” “A sip of beer is not gonna do anything for you but put the smell of beer on your breath.” “Then you’re going to go home and have your mother asking you questions as to the smell and you’re not even drunk.” I realized what he said made a lot of sense and it has stuck with me all of these years. A sip of beer wouldn’t quench my thirst, nor would I be under the influence of the alcohol that I drank.
As believers we are to live our lives under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Many of us think that we are living under the influence of the Holy Spirit, when in actuality we’ve just got the smell of a relationship with God on our breath. We take a sip out of the Word of God, we take a sip out of church on Sunday, we take a sip of the pastors message, we sip on prayer but we are not immersed and under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Have you ever driven past a liquor store and notice the sign reads, “wine and spirits.” Well, some alcohol is considered to be a spirit. It alters your mind, it alters the way you think and ultimately it will influence your behavior. Paul admonishes us in Ephesians 5:18, not to be under the spiritual influence of alcohol, but to be under the spiritual influence of God. Let’s stop sipping on God and let’s get intoxicated with the beauty of His love, joy, peace and holiness.
