Be Drunk with Love?
A Call to Drink Deep of Divine Love from Song 5:1
“Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love!” (Song 5:1).
That’s an attention-getting image: “Be drunk with love.”
It appears the apostle Paul is using this same idea when he charged us not to be drunk on spirits but to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). Paul’s words help us capture Solomon’s poetic charge to be “drunk with love.”
We’ve all seen what happens when too much alcohol enters a human. Think about what changes when someone is drunk:
Emotions
Speech
Vision
Reactions
Attitude
Walking
Decision-making
Processing
Treatment of others
It’s an apt word picture for what happens when we drink deeply of God’s love. Isn’t this what happens when we experience the love of Jesus? We become different people.
When we guzzle down that gospel goodness, we are not the same. When we are filled with thoughts of Christ’s cross, Christ’s love, his blood shed for the forgiveness of our sins, his empty tomb, his conquering of death and the devil, and Christ watching over us and caring for us from his throne, it alters us. We get filled with the Spirit—when bottles (barrels) of the vintage gospel hit our bloodstream, our Blood Gospel Content rises above the legalistic limit. And when that happens:
The love of Jesus affects our emotions. Joy, thanksgiving, and love grow. It’s ecstatic happiness and joy (1 Peter 1:8).
The love of Jesus changes the way we talk to others, to him, and to others about him. Our speech is not slurred; it’s salted and seasoned by grace (Colossians 4:6).
The love of Jesus changes the way we see the world, our lives, others, and ultimate reality. We no longer look around according to the flesh (2 Corinthians 6:16). Our vision isn’t blurred—it’s clearer than ever.
The love of Jesus changes the way we react and respond to suffering, sin, and temptations (Ephesians 4:1–3). We don’t fly off the handle; we are soothed and steadied by grace.
The love of Jesus changes our attitudes and our decision-making (Romans 12:2). It’s no longer all about us—offended by everything and filled with liquid courage. We look to Christ.
And doesn’t the love of Christ literally change how we walk (Ephesians 5:2)? Not crooked. Not wobbly. We walk in the light and in line with God’s word.
The mighty love of Jesus changes the way we feel, act, walk, talk, see, think, respond—everything.
Jonathan Edwards, in a sermon on Song 5:1 titled “Spiritual Appetites Know No Bounds,” said it’s impossible for us to be over-served or go too far in spiritual delights. He basically tells us to drink deep of divine love:
There is no such thing as any inordinateness in holy affections; there is no such thing as excess in longings after the discoveries of the beauty of Christ Jesus, or greater degrees of holiness, or the enjoyment of communion with God…Persons may indulge them as much as they please; they may give themselves their full swing…they may drink their fill; there is no excess…They may drink, yea, swim in the rivers of spiritual pleasure.
Since God is love, let’s drink up. Let’s savor. And since God—the eternal, almighty Trinity—is love, there’s plenty to enjoy. Meditate on the gospel. Ponder the great love of Christ. Sing a hymn. Read the Bible until you taste the notes of grace, mercy, and love. Respond in love to his love. Have your fill of his fullness.
