You know they say an alcoholic has to admit he or she has a problem before he or she can begin any type of real rehabilitation. How many times have we heard the affected person say over and over again that they really don’t have a problem? They can, in essence, stop any time they want to. It’s just that the ‘want to’ never supersedes the ‘don’t want to. And the ‘I can’t do this by myself’ never seems to surface until that person is face down in the dirt.
Sometimes, I tend to think that coming to the Lord is much the same. People like me, and maybe you, are sick from the ignorance of the gospel and don’t understand the illness is killing us day by day. We don’t have the knowledge or the faith required to diagnose our problems and like the alcoholic or the addict, we don’t think we have one. We continue to engage in morally destructive behavior and, while ruining our own lives, take a few loved ones along for the nightmare. Unfortunately, many of us can not and will not testify, even after salvation, that we are sick. Not until we are face down in the dirt of life are we able to see the light and recognize that being born again is the only road to health, in this case, spiritual health. My point is simply this. Just like the road to recovery from an addiction is a long and arduous one, so is the road to following Christ. It is neither easy nor straight. Relapse can come from any direction at any time. This ain’t the yellow brick road. My bible says that the cost of following Jesus is an all-or-nothing proposition: once an addict, always an addict, once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic, once a Christian, always a Christian, once saved, always saved.
“Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Luke 9:58.Those who follow God don’t have it easy. On the contrary, life is extremely hard. Persecution from those haters who refuse to accept you as a Christian is the same as the person who offers the alcoholic a drink and can’t understand why he or she says no. One gets it. One doesn’t.
“…Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come.” Luke 17:1. Our job is the job. The duty of the addict is to first and foremost understand and admit helplessness over the addiction. We are not in control. Our life belongs to the Lord. Submission is a prerequisite to salvation. Now that we’ve
got that straight, facedown in the dirt is replaced with facedown in prayer. The knowledge that relapses are possible and likely is only softened with the reality that relapse is real and part of the sickness of the physical world. “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” Luke 17:3-5. Knowledge is a dangerous thing. Ignorance is lethal. I suggest to you that merely understanding the scope of the struggle is paramount to overcoming it. We must, however, admit and recognize that we are at the mercy of so many things. Now, if the truth be told, God loves us more than we know and probably more than we love ourselves. Therein lies the light in all of this darkness. We are made in God’s image, and our duty is to recognize and represent it to the best of our ability. First and last, we must never fall prey to the arrogance of ignorance to think we can quit anytime we want to, or we can get there all by ourselves. Remember that the next time you wake up, face down.
May God bless and keep you always.
This column is from “Spiritually Speaking: Reflections for and from a New Christian” by James Washington. You can purchase this enlightening book on Amazon and start your journey towards spiritual enlightenment.
