I am seeing double

PORTLAND had the first pick at the NBA draft 1984; they could choose the best college player. The coach BOBBY KNIGHT called one of his friends on the team to tell them to choose MICHAEL JORDAN (he knew him very well as he had been his trainer).

The answer he received was: “We cannot choose Michael; we need a center”. And Bobby replied: “Place Jordan as a centre then”. They did not listen to him and chose SAM BOWIE.

It is not necessary to remember what Jordan meant in the basketball world: Portland made their worst choice in history. Someone even said joking that you need to be drunk not to choose Jordan before any other player.

God warns us in several places in the Bible that alcohol is very dangerous. Any substance that causes a person to lose control of himself is dangerous, and alcohol may be the most dangerous of all because of its widespread use in our society.

Thousands of lives have been ruined because of alcohol. Many times a successful life is thrown away because of one action, that of allowing evil to come in, even if only once.

The teaching of the Bible is very clear. When a person fills upon alcohol, he is controlled by alcohol. But if we are full of the Spirit of God, we are being controlled by the Holy Spirit.

Being filled with the Spirit is the key. So simple, and yet so complicated.

Simple, because when we are filled with the Spirit of God, it is He who is in control and seeks to glorify Jesus with our life. Complicated, because in order for the Holy Spirit to have control of our life, we must consciously give Him that right.

We are often too proud to give anyone control over our life, not even God himself. Yet, it is impossible to live a Christian life that pleases God if we are not filled with his Spirit.

We only have to make one choice; either we let God control our actions, or we do it ourselves; we allow God to govern our life, or we rule it ourselves.

If we really desire to obey God, we should start with something very simple; ask him to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness and fill us with his Spirit.

Just as it is impossible to fill a glass with oil if it already contains paper, rocks or dirt, so we also must empty ourselves of all sinful things in order to be filled with the Holy Spirit. It's our obligation; it's not optional.

Ah, I almost forgot! To be filled with the Holy Spirit is something we need every day. To be renewed into the image of our Lord, according to God's will, is a daily thing... an exercise that can't be improved upon. It has no substitute.