GOD’S STIMULANT
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18
How this poor world seeks release and escape through drink but instead of happiness reaps a headache! God has provided a stimulant for His people in the power of the Holy Spirit. And there is no wretched “morning after” with a dark brown taste! “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it” (Prov. 10:22). The early Christians were accused of being full of new wine. They had the wine of heaven, of which all the wines of earth are but poor imitations.
And, mind you, the thought here is that of a stimulant, not a sedative. Unless something stirs us we are worthless. All the world’s excitements fail to afford a proper stimulus. And a lot of our modern religious “rousements” are but substitutes for the wine of the Spirit, often the old Adam whooping it up in church.
Every other wine runs easily to excess. Only the Christian filled with the Spirit has an adequate stimulant to carry him through these days.