What people coming to life do
The opportunity to escape the pain in our lives is one reason why getting drunk is appealing.
With enough alcohol in our system, it’s easier to forget, for a moment, the things that worry and trouble us. It can be a way to detach from reality and numb our wounded hearts.
I get the appeal. After all, if you get drunk enough, you might even find yourself singing. And people who are singing seem lighthearted. When life is hard and heavy, the opportunity to have a moment of lightheartedness is attractive.
The carefree song of a drunk may sound cheerful, but it isn’t truly joyful, happy, or alive. Alcohol can only give us a moment of peace through a kind of death. Through drunkenness, we die to reality only to wake again and again and again.
““Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit , addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.””
In these verses, it took me a while to understand why and how Paul goes from “do not get drunk” to “singing and making melody to Lord.”
Instead of filling ourselves with alcohol, we are encouraged to “be filled with the Spirit.” And as the Spirit of God saturates our lives, He puts a song in our hearts.
Christians are lighthearted because we have been united with Christ, whose yoke is easy and His burden light. Our growing peace isn’t rooted in an escape from the various ways we are hurting and suffering but in coming alive to all the help, comfort, and joy we have in Christ. We Christians aren’t going to sleep to our problems; we are gaining greater and greater clarity as we are waking up to the fact that God is good, He is for us, and He is with us.
“The Spirit doesn’t make us les aware of our problems. The Spirit makes us more aware of our resources.”
This is a big reason why Christians sing. We have always been a singing people because singing is what people who are coming to life do.
And the song we sing is a song led by the Spirit of God within us. It’s a song that we will be singing for all of eternity. A song about the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. One thing that makes our song attractive is that it lifts up Jesus, who is drawing all people to Himself.
Ours is a song of praise to God; it’s our testimony for the world to hear, but it’s also a melody we sing to one another. Through the song of the Spirit, we encourage one another. Hearing this Spirit-filled song rising from the vocal cords of our neighbors, our friends, and our family is one way Christ gives us strength to press through whatever reality we are facing.
The song of the saints is better than the song of drunkenness. It’s a song of true joy, a song of hope, and a song of peace. And it’s a song for those who want to live again.
