Redemption Or Soulish Substitutes

Truth is the antidote for error and love is the antidote for fear... but there are counterfeits out there.

"Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God." - Ephesians 5:17-21 NKJV

Dissipation is Asotia (Strong's G810). A negation of the word for being saved Sozo (G4982). In other words non-redemptive... there is no redemption in drinking wine. It is a counterfeit because is produces a feeling that saves no one and buys nothing back. Yes, There can be joy and relaxation... it is used in the Hebrew scriptures as a symbol for joy. But, Now that the Spirit of God has come to indwell individuals we are to be wise and not drunken.

The filling of the Spirit has an impact on each area of our soul. The mind, emotions, will, consciousness and conscience. He restores balance. God creates a clean heart in us with a new identity.

"My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word!" - Psalms 119:25 ESV

The counterfeits energize the old identity stimulating or depressing our natural man... counterfeit ideas, counterfeit emotions, counterfeit decision making, a counterfeit self image and a counterfeit value system... drunkenness that is non-redemptive... some translations use the word debauchery for Asotia.

Our pleasure is now rooted in a poetic interaction, in a musical ministry, in a thanksgiving that submits one to another in awe of God. All those things have redemptive value. Fun is redemptive fun. Pleasure is redemptive pleasure. Decisions are made in wisdom... not as a means of escape but as a means of investment... a strengthening... a buying back of time.

"Redeeming the time, because the days are evil." - Ephesians 5:16 KJV

Yes.

There are times when our soul will gravitate towards the dust and the counterfeit will look attractive... Those are the moments where by grace we find our way of redemptive escape. Jesus Himself is that doorway. We can walk by faith in those moments knowing that the integrity of faith in the finished work of Christ is the antidote for hopelessness and death. Faith in the resurrected ever living one is why we were created.

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