Walking with God requires an awareness of our environment. We need to know what is going on around us. We need to know where God is, so we can stay with God. When it comes to staying close or moving away, we are the ones who change the distance between us and God. So, we are aware of the real enemy who tries to tempt us away, we take every thought captive and we make it obedient to Christ.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man." (Luke 21:33-36 NIV)
Notice what Luke ties to carousing and drunkenness: the anxieties of life. That’s because much of the time drunkenenss, and getting high, are ways of dealing with life. We get drunk to help the stress of life. We take a hit to forget the problems of life. We pass out to escape life. The problem with these approaches is that it never works. Alcohol and drugs do not help us face life. They don’t even help us escape life. Only God can help us live life. In order to walk together with God, we need to remain sober-minded.
Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:17-20 NIV)
How about you? Are you filled with the Spirit or filled with something else? Are you sober-minded?
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