Ephesians 5:18 - Out of control

"...and do not be getting drunk with wine, in which is overindulgence, but rather keep being full of the Spirit..."

-This is not about alcohol.  Paul does not in any way here prohibit the consumption of wine - only it’s excess.  Because that which fills you controls you.  And when you are full of wine (in other words, drunk), you generally look like a fool (cf Acts 2.13).  Unwise and foolish choices are generally what result, which is precisely the kind of thing Paul has been exhorting against.  The issue is not what I drink or eat or do.  Nor is it simply about not looking like a fool - after all, the things of God look foolish to the unbeliever anyway (1Corinthians 1.18).  Rather it’s all about control, what controls me.  Anything that fills me pretty much takes over and affects the choices I make - jealousy, anger, lust, a sweet tooth, a chemical substance, love...  Even an athlete wants to maintain intelligent control in all things - if they want to be successful (1Corinthians 9.25).  They do not allow themselves to be mastered by anything.  The added danger of wine (or any alcoholic beverage for that matter) is that when it fills me it actually alters (impairs) the functioning of my body as well as my mind, such that I become a danger to those around me (and to myself).

-But no, Paul says, instead be filled with the Spirit.  Christ-follower, you have the Spirit of God living inside you (John 14.16-17; Acts 1.5, 1.8, 2.17-18; Romans 5.5, 8.9, 1Corinthians 6.19, 12.7; 2Corinthians 1.22; Galatians 3.5), in your heart, ready and willing and able to take the wheel (as well as the gas pedal and actually be the engine).  He is ready to live and love and manifest God’s awesome power and breathtaking goodness in and through the life of anyone who will let Him have control.  Out of control - that is how to live the Christian life.  Not out of control because no one intelligent is actually at the helm, but rather because the King of kings Himself has shown up, and He has taken over.  Here we have the key to miracles, to the greater works which Christ promised (John 14.12) - HE does them by His Spirit THROUGH the life of those whose hearts are truly and completely His (2Chronicles 16.9).

-How then are we filled with the Spirit tho?  Paul here gives us a command, with no strings attached.  Anytime there is a command in Scripture my response is faith, simply to trust and obey.  That is how we begin the Christian life, that is how we continue therein (Gal 3.2-3).  Ask God to fill you with His Spirit, believe that He has, and then go out and live into it.  There is no ritual to perform, no magic words to utter.  Faith.  And surrender.  We do not get more of the Holy Spirit - remember, He already lives inside every true Christ follower.  No, we do not get more of Him - He gets more of us.  He gets more and more control of the things we want and the things we care about and the things to which we devote ourselves.  No sacrifice, this.  What we find is that what He wants is exactly what we were made for in the first place.