Staggering Drunk

It was a busy Friday night on the highway which runs through our city.  We were out on family excursion when I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw his red eyes, all glazed over.  Drunk….and he was swiftly approaching the rear end of my car.  Of all things, my precious daughter was sitting in the back seat.

I wish I could tell you that was the end of our encounter with the drunken man.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t.  He lives next door to us.  There have been numerous occasions when we have observed him staggering to the door.  We have even viewed him swaying as he walked down the street to the landlord’s house because, in his drunken stupor, he locked himself out of the house.

Ephesians 5:18-19 admonishes us not to get drunk on wine, but to constantly be filled with the Spirit.  John warns us not to love the world because he knew that getting too intimate with worldly things could cause us to develop a spiritual stagger that would lead us from the straight and narrow path. (First John 2:15)

When we are “drunk” on worldly passions, we lock ourselves out from the blessings of God, much like neighbor locked himself out of the house.

When we “drink” too much on earthly things, it is much harder to resist temptation.  When my neighbor couldn’t resist the lure of the bottle, he faced the humiliation of having his name appear in the paper after being arrested for drunk driving.  We may also end up in an embarrassing position when our sin finds us out. (Numbers 32:23) 

Let us be determined to continue walking a godly path so that when Jesus returns, we can stand before Him, confident and unashamed. (First John 2:28)

© 2008, Stacy R Miller