Acts 2:14-15
One of country music’s hottest groups, Little Big Town, has a song called “Day Drinking” that goes like this,
“I don't need a reason or a happy hour
Ain't hanging around for a fireworks show
Get a head start a little sip of somethin'
Off and running here we go
One, two, three here we go
Don't want to wait 'til the sun's sinking
We could be feeling alright
I know you know what I'm thinking
Why don't we do a little day drinking
Why don't we do a little day drinking”
On the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended for the first time on some Jesus followers in Jerusalem and they started speaking the different languages of the Jewish Diaspora, some in the crowd accused them of exactly what Little Big Town is encouraging — doing a little day drinking. Totally sober and filled with the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Peter stood up and presented his rebuttal to the charge of drunkenness.
“Now Peter stood up together with the eleven other apostles, raised his voice and declared to the gathered crowd, ‘Men of Judea and all those staying here in Jerusalem, know this and listen carefully to my words. These are not drunk as you suppose. It’s only the third hour of the day (nine o’clock in the morning), but this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel.’”
I’m reminded that the Apostle Paul did recognize that the filling of the Spirit can look like the intoxicating pleasure that wine can bring, but he warns that believers need to be drunk on the Spirit, not on ethanol (Ephesians 5:18).
LORD, thanks for the joy, satisfaction, and release that Your Spirit gives to me as a gift. Protect me from ever depending upon the “spirits’ instead of the gift of Your Holy Spirit.
