This study addresses the question of whether a believer should use marijuana to get high by starting where Scripture speaks clearly about spiritual influence, mental clarity, and daily conduct. While the Bible does not name marijuana directly, it does command believers to reject mind-altering control and to live under the Holy Spirit’s influence, and Ephesians 5:18 will serve as the primary anchor text for that principle.
From there, we will trace the Bible’s teaching on sobriety and Spirit-filled living, spiritual alertness under pressure, walking by the Spirit daily, renewing the mind in Christ, and honoring God with your body. We will also deal honestly with the heart issue behind getting high, namely the desire for escape or relief, and compare that impulse with God’s call to find refuge, rest, and peace in Him rather than in a substance.
Sobriety and Spirit Filled Living
Ephesians 5:18 gives a clear command that establishes a governing principle for the believer’s inner life: do not place yourself under a controlling influence that leads to moral and spiritual waste, but live under the Holy Spirit’s controlling influence. Paul uses drunkenness as the obvious example because it visibly alters judgment and lowers restraint, but his point is broader than a beverage. The issue is influence and control. Getting high is not an accident of exposure; it is a sought-after mental state. That purpose directly conflicts with the Lord’s call to clarity, self-control, and Spirit-directed living.
And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit. (Ephesians 5:18)
In the grammar of the passage, be filled is a command, and it calls for an ongoing pattern of life. To be filled with the Spirit is not to receive more of the Spirit, but to yield more of ourselves to His leading and enabling. In the immediate context, that filling results in worship, gratitude, and humble relationships, not escape and numbness. Dissipation means wastefulness, a life that spills out in unrestrained or unproductive ways. Anything pursued for the purpose of surrendering the mind’s clarity and the will’s restraint is walking the wrong direction from what Paul commands here.
This is also why Scripture repeatedly ties spiritual readiness to sobriety. A believer is in a real conflict and needs alertness, discernment, and steadiness. Intentionally clouding the mind for pleasure or relief is the opposite of vigilance. Even if someone argues they can function while high, the point is not merely external functioning; it is whether the mind and affections are being trained to seek comfort, calm, or pleasure from a substance instead of from the Lord and His Word. Scripture calls for a watchful posture because the enemy targets the careless and the compromised.
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (1 Peter 5:8)
So the question is not only, Is it legal? or, Does it help me relax? The Scripture-based question is, What is influencing me and what kind of person is it producing? Spirit-filled living produces self-control and purposeful obedience. Being under the influence of a drug for the purpose of getting high trains the opposite instincts: avoidance over endurance, numbness over prayer, cravings over contentment, and private escape over sober fellowship and service.
If you are using marijuana to get high, the right response is repentance and a return to the Lord’s provision: ask God for strength to say no, seek wise accountability, and pursue the Spirit’s filling through Scripture, prayer, worship, and obedient choices. This is not about earning salvation; salvation is God’s gift by grace through faith in Christ. It is about living consistently with the new life God has given, with a clear mind that can follow the Lord’s direction.
Spiritual Alertness Under Pressure
Spiritual alertness is not a personality trait; it is a commanded posture for believers living under real pressure and real opposition. In the context of 1 Peter 5:8, Peter is writing to Christians who are suffering and being tested, and he connects that pressure to the need for a clear mind and a watchful life. When a believer intentionally pursues a high, the very goal is to lower alertness, dull concern, and shift the mind into a fog. That direction runs opposite to what Peter requires.
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (1 Peter 5:8)
Be sober is a call to mental clarity and self-control. Be vigilant is a call to watchfulness, staying awake to spiritual realities. Peter is not teaching fear; he is teaching readiness. The devil is described as an adversary who looks for an opening. That does not mean a believer can be owned by him, but it does mean a believer can be harmed, trapped in sin, drawn into compromise, and rendered ineffective. Anything that trains you to escape pressure by numbing yourself also trains you to stop watching, stop discerning, and stop resisting in the moment you most need to stand.
Peter immediately follows this warning with a command about how to respond under pressure. The answer is not checking out, but standing firm in faith. Pressure is real, but God’s call is endurance with a clear mind, not chemical relief that reduces spiritual sensitivity.
Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. (1 Peter 5:9)
Notice the method of resistance: steadfast in the faith. Faith here is not a vague optimism; it is active dependence on God’s Word and God’s character. A mind seeking a high is not practicing steadfastness. It is practicing retreat. That matters because temptation often comes disguised as relief. If marijuana becomes your go-to for calming down, then anxiety, boredom, loneliness, or pain become cues to run to a substance instead of cues to pray, to seek help, to open Scripture, and to walk in obedience.
The New Testament ties this same alertness to clear thinking because our choices flow from our minds. Peter uses similar language earlier when he calls believers to prepare their thinking for action. Getting high aims at the opposite: loosening the mind rather than gathering it up for obedience.
Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:13)
Under pressure, spiritual alertness looks like bringing your thoughts under the Lord’s authority, identifying lies quickly, and choosing the next obedient step. If you are tempted to use marijuana to get high because life feels heavy, be honest: that is an escape strategy. Scripture calls you to a better refuge. Bring the pressure to the Lord in prayer, pursue wise accountability, and remove access to what pulls you into compromise. This is not about earning acceptance with God. It is about living as someone who belongs to Christ with a sober mind that can resist, endure, and follow Him when it costs.
Walking by the Spirit Daily
Walking by the Spirit is the daily, moment-by-moment alternative to being controlled by the flesh. In Galatians 5, Paul is not describing a mystical experience; he is describing a practical way of life where the believer depends on the Spirit’s enabling and follows the Spirit’s direction. That matters because the desire to get high is not morally neutral. It is part of what Scripture calls the lust of the flesh, meaning strong cravings that pull us away from obedience.
I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)
Notice the logic at the section anchor, Galatians 5:16. Paul does not say, Try harder in the flesh so you will not sin. He says walk in the Spirit, and the result is that you will not carry out the flesh’s cravings. The battle is real, and Paul names it plainly. Your inner life will not drift into holiness on autopilot. The flesh and the Spirit are opposed, and that opposition shows up in what you reach for when you are stressed, bored, lonely, or hurting.
For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. (Galatians 5:17)
When someone uses marijuana to get high, the goal is an altered mental state and a kind of escape. That is not walking by the Spirit; it is choosing a fleshly coping mechanism. Even if the user argues they are not harming anyone, Paul’s point is deeper: who is leading you, and what is being produced? The Spirit leads toward obedience with a clear mind, not toward fog and passivity.
Paul then urges believers to stop using freedom as cover for sinful desires and to use that freedom to serve others in love. Getting high tends to turn a person inward: chasing relief, managing moods, pursuing comfort. The Spirit turns us outward: loving God and loving people with self-control and purpose.
For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. (Galatians 5:13)
So what does walking by the Spirit look like on a normal day? It begins with honest submission to the Lord: confessing sin quickly, asking for help to obey, and choosing the next right step. It means refusing to feed the flesh, including habits that train your heart to seek peace from a substance rather than from Christ. It also means replacing the old pattern with Spirit-formed patterns: Scripture in the mind, prayer in the moment of pressure, and fellowship that brings light instead of secrecy.
If marijuana has become your escape, do not excuse it. Bring it into the light with the Lord, repent, and seek practical accountability. This is not how you earn salvation. Salvation is God’s gift through faith in Jesus Christ. But walking by the Spirit is how a saved person learns to say no to the flesh and live in the freedom Christ gives.
Renewing the Mind in Christ
Renewing the mind is God’s ongoing work in the believer after salvation. Romans 12:2 is written to people who already belong to Christ, and it explains how a changed life actually happens. The issue is not merely avoiding one sinful habit; it is learning a new way to think so that your choices follow the Lord’s will instead of the world’s patterns.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2)
Notice the flow. Do not be conformed means stop being pressed into the world’s mold. The world normalizes escaping pain and pressure through substances, entertainment, and numbing. But the command is not just negative. Be transformed is a call to real change from the inside out. The renewing of your mind is the means God uses, as His truth reshapes your thinking, desires, and decisions.
This directly touches the desire to get high. Getting high intentionally blunts and alters the mind. Scripture calls the believer to the opposite: clarity, discernment, and an increasing ability to recognize what pleases God. Romans 12:2 says renewed thinking leads to proving God’s will, meaning you can test and recognize what is good, acceptable, and perfect. A foggy mind is not a helpful tool for discernment, especially when temptation comes quietly and you need to say no quickly.
Renewal is not achieved by willpower alone. God renews us through His Word, received with faith and obedience. That means replacing old inputs and old reflexes. When stress hits, the old reflex might be escape. Renewal trains a new reflex: bringing the pressure to the Lord, thinking truthfully, and choosing obedience even when it is uncomfortable.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (Colossians 3:16)
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly describes a settled, abundant influence of Scripture in your inner life. When the Word is dwelling in you, it changes what you believe about relief, peace, suffering, and hope. It also brings wisdom, meaning skill for daily decisions. This is why a pattern of getting high is spiritually dangerous: it trains you to seek comfort while neglecting the very process God uses to renew you.
Renewing the mind also involves active focus. You cannot feed your mind on whatever the world offers and expect Christlike thinking to grow. The mind is shaped by what it rehearses.
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. (
Honoring God With Your Body
God does not separate the spiritual life from the physical life. In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul addresses real choices believers were making with their bodies, and he grounds the correction in what is true about our union with Christ. The key issue is not only what marijuana does to the mind and body, but who has the rightful claim over your body and what your body is for.
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6:19)
Paul’s argument is straightforward. If you belong to Christ, the Holy Spirit is in you, and your body is called a temple, meaning a place set apart for God’s use. That does not mean the believer never struggles, but it does mean we cannot treat our bodies as personal property to use however we want. Getting high is intentionally choosing an altered mental state for comfort, escape, or pleasure. Whatever other claims are made for it, the aim is not clear-minded service to the Lord.
For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Corinthians 6:20)
You were bought at a price is a reminder of redemption. Jesus paid for you with His blood. So the command is not merely stop doing certain behaviors; it is therefore glorify God. Glorify means to honor, to show His worth. Paul includes body and spirit because worship is not only internal. What you put into your body and why you do it matters to God.
This is also why the Bible’s call to holiness cannot be reduced to personal preference. The believer is set apart. Holiness shows up in choices that honor God’s presence and purpose in your life, even when the world treats those choices as strange or unnecessary.
But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, Be holy, for I am holy. (1 Peter 1:15-16)
Notice that Peter says in all your conduct. That covers private habits, stress responses, recreation, and what you do when nobody is watching. If marijuana has become a go-to relief, the honest question is whether it is helping you glorify God or training you to depend on something else.
There is also a simple test of direction. Paul gives it in everyday terms: whatever you do, do it to God’s glory. If the purpose of getting high is to dull reality, soften conviction, or escape pain without bringing it to the Lord, it cannot be offered to Him as worship.
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)
If you are in Christ, your body belongs to the Lord by purchase, and your daily life is meant to display His value. Confess where you have used substances as a substitute refuge, turn from it, and take practical steps that match repentance. This does not earn salvation. It is the obedient response of someone who has been bought at a price and now desires to honor the One who paid it.
Finding Refuge Rest and Peace
The heart issue behind getting high is often a search for relief. Pressure, anxiety, sadness, boredom, and unresolved pain can feel too heavy, so the temptation is to reach for something that promises quick comfort. Jesus does not shame the heavy-laden; He invites them. He calls you to bring the real weight to Him, not to numb it.
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)
Notice the verbs. Come to Me is personal, not mechanical. Christianity is not merely exchanging one habit for another; it is coming to a Person. I will give you rest is a promise from Christ, not a self-improvement slogan. Take My yoke upon you means you submit to His leadership. A yoke joins you to Him, and it also implies direction, pace, and purpose. Learn from Me is discipleship: you sit under His words and obey them. And the result is rest for your souls, not just a temporary break from feelings.
This helps clarify why marijuana to get high does not truly function as refuge. It may dull awareness for a moment, but it cannot teach you Christ, it cannot carry your burdens, and it cannot produce the settled rest He promises. It also tends to train the heart to run from discomfort instead of bringing it into the Lord’s presence with honest prayer and obedient trust. The Lord’s rest is not escape from reality; it is strength and peace while facing reality with Him.
God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1)
Refuge means a safe place under threat. Strength means God supplies what you lack. Very present means He is not distant when you feel overwhelmed. Trouble is not denied; it is faced with God as help. That is the better alternative to any substance: not pretending the burden is not there, but bringing it to the One who is there.
Scripture also ties peace to where the mind rests. Substances promise calm while pulling the mind away from clear dependence on God. The Lord offers peace by stabilizing the mind on Him through trust.
You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. (Isaiah 26:3)
Stayed means supported, leaned, fixed. This is not automatic; it is practiced trust. When cravings or pressure rise, turn it into a prompt: stop and pray plainly, name the burden, ask for help to obey, and choose the next right step with a clear mind. If you have been using a high as a substitute refuge, confess it to the Lord, turn from it, and begin building a new pattern of coming to Christ daily for rest, because He actually gives what He promises.
My Final Thoughts
If you are using marijuana to get high, be honest about what you are seeking: an altered mind to escape, to numb, or to feel better for a while. That pursuit does not fit a life that is meant to be clear-minded, self-controlled, and led by the Holy Spirit. Do not settle for excuses or half-measures. Bring it into the light before the Lord, call it what it is, and turn from it. If this has become a pattern, involve a trusted mature believer, remove access, and take practical steps that match repentance.
If you are carrying real pressure, pain, anxiety, or loneliness, do not medicate your soul with a high. Take the burden to Christ, ask for help, and pursue the ordinary means God uses to strengthen you: Scripture, prayer, and faithful fellowship. If there are medical issues involved, seek wise medical care without using it as cover for getting high. The aim is not to impress God or earn His acceptance, but to live in step with the new life He has already given you, with a clear mind that can obey Him and serve people well.
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