What if you could take a spiritual breathalyzer? What would the reading be?

Taking a spiritual breathalyzer certainly isn’t a new concept. Consider Paul’s teaching in Ephesians 5.

So be very careful how you live. Do not live like those who are not wise, but live wisely. Use every chance you have for doing good, because these are evil times. So do not be foolish but learn what the Lord wants you to do. Do not be drunk with wine, which will ruin you, but be filled with the Spirit. Speak to each other with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your hearts to the Lord. Always give thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (verses 15-20)

Paul compares being filled with the Holy Spirit with being filled (drunk) with wine. With what are you filled? Bitterness? Discontentedness? Pain? Sorrow? Guilt? Pride? Greed? Doubt? A spiritual breathalyzer will tell the truth.

Consider what happens when somebody is filled with too much wine.

• They’re no longer in control.
• Their perspective and response is changed.
• They are less inhibited.

And what happens when we are filled with the Holy Spirit?

• We know we are not in control. God is.
• God’s perspective eclipses our own, and we respond according to his leading.
• We are no longer inhibited by bitterness, discontentedness, sorrow, guilt, pride, greed, and doubt. We set aside our self-centered concerns and boldly respond in God’s timing.

Consider your intimacy and comfort with the Holy Spirit. Even as Christians, we are often much more familiar with God the Father and Jesus the Son than the Holy Spirit. We’re often more comfortable with the rational, intelligent approach to faith. We don’t want to be or even seem to be out of control. Yet when we yield to God completely, including being filled with the Holy Spirit, we are not out of control. We simply yield to God’s control. We set our own selfish control issues aside to invite him to have full reign in our lives.

Take a spiritual breathalyzer today. Ask God to give you an accurate reading of where you are spiritually. Let him challenge you in the areas you are clinging to how you want to fill yourself instead of yielding to him. Then respond in obedience. Trust his assessment of you to always be for your spiritual growth and for his glory.