Foolishness and wisdom. Oh, how they play out in our society today. We see foolishness daily in how people behave, act, and speak. Seldom do we witness wisdom being enacted. Foolishness is seen in overreactions, people doing what they know they shouldn’t, people speaking offensively to others, and a lack of self-respect.

            Let’s not fool ourselves. We are not immune to foolishness. We dabble in gossip. We have a little too much to drink. We drive far too fast, even with small children in the vehicle. We text while driving or sitting at a stop light. We yell and scream at others. We hoard things. We overspend. We fail to tip our waitresses and waiters. We allow the rapid pace of society to overwhelm us.

            The Apostle Paul tells us not to get drunk with wine, because it was a common problem of the first century. Today, he might be more generic and state not to use any drink or drug that alters our minds. Instead, he says we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit. His analogy is filling ourselves to the brim as though we were the glass the wine was being poured into. He then tells us how we can be filled. We are filled as we worship with one another.

            A systemic problem we have today is people failing to go to worship services. We like to blame it on the pandemic by saying people got used to watching worship services online. Sorry, but that is a poor excuse and not a valid reason. The real reason is people have failed to make it a priority in their lives. Unfortunately, they are only hurting themselves and their children. I have said numerous times, “You cannot be a Lone Ranger Christian.” That is what Paul is saying in today’s passage. Being filled by the Spirit comes as we worship together.

            We are filled with the Spirit as we sing praises to God. It doesn’t matter if we sing well or not. It is about our hearts. It is about our worshiping God with others. As we all sing our praises, we are filled with the Holy Spirit. Just as the temple in the Old Testament was filled with the cloud of God, we are filled with the Spirit as the new temple. But it only happens as we worship together. I have seen the change in nursing home residents who typically sit alone depressed and who become energized when they come to worship.

            Paul says we are to be thankful in all of this. We are to give thanks to the Father through the Son. Our thankfulness is a demonstration of our spirit being touched by the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 5:18-21: Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to one another, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, being subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.