Three destructive behaviors for Christians are dissipation, drunkenness, and the anxieties of life (34). They are a weight on a Christian’s heart, pulling us away from active love of Christ. They take the place of laboring for the kingdom of God and Jesus. They are the rocks, thorns, and thistles in the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23; Mark 4:3-8, 13-25)
Dissipation is wasteful expenditure and consumption of time, strength, gifts of the Spirit, wealth, and other resources God has given us. Dissipation is dissolute indulgence in sensual pleasure for self-gratification. It is living for oneself instead of helping others in their walk with Christ. Each day, Jesus was teaching in the temple, and each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives to talk to his disciples and God. Everybody serves somebody. What do your actions prove about who you serve?
Drunkenness is more than tipping back the alcohol bottle and popping a pill to shut down. Drunkenness is anything that causes the loss of control of one’s mental state and body. Ephesians 5:15-20 Apostle Paul wrote, “Be very careful, then, how you live–not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Anxieties of life can choke the life out of any active saint. An anxiety can be in the form of cares, worries, distress, uneasiness, and perturbations. Worrying about how to pay the bill, aging, where to live and work, marrying and having children, the well-being of children, and the health of self or a loved one can keep the seed of Jesus’ word from growing in the heart till it produces fruit.
Why take command of dissipation, drunkenness, and the anxieties of life? Jesus told his disciples, “Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man. (36)” A wasted life, a wasted mind, and a wasted heart will not be a justification of opportunities lost at the Bema Seat of Christ. The time for the Gentile church’s judgement is at hand (2 Corinthians 5:9-10). Please Christ, not self.
