Spirit Craft
In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul instructs: “Do not get drunk with wine . . . but be filled with the Spirit” (5:18). He compares the Spirit’s fullness to drunkenness. One who is intoxicated is under the influence of alcohol and that influence impacts and affects one’s thinking and behavior. By way of analogy, the one who is filled with the Spirit comes under the influence of a different Reality, a Divine Reality, and that Reality impacts and influences one’s thinking and behavior. This command is an active-passive command. Paul exhorts the faith community to be filled with the Spirit, yet the filling of the Spirit is not completely within the community’s control. In John’s Gospel, the Spirit is compared to wind that blows where it will. It’s beyond human coercion and manipulation. Yet, there are things we can do to set our sails in the direction that the wind is blowing and live within the flow of the Spirit’s power. A River Runs Through It was a book from which a mo...