The Good Of The Father (The Devils Choice) # 1996

 

Be observing accurately, then, brethren, how you are walking, not as unwise, but as wise, reclaiming the era, for the days are wicked.  Therefore do not become imprudent, but understand what the will of the Lord is

Paul to the Ephesians 5: 15-17, Concordant New Testament 

I have many well intended Christians speak to how we should be seeking the Lords help for delivering us from whatever addiction we might be facing.  In the church I used to attend, there was a small group whose intention it was to assist those who found themselves in recovery from addiction.  While I agree that we should pray for Gods help in delivering us from whatever addictions that we may face, I believe also that we are speaking about addiction that we're missing the point.  When we come to the realization that we are making choices that are destructive to us, we often seek the help of the Lord.  We do well for doing that.  I have a brother who I have been in prayer over for some time.  It's no secret among his brothers and friends that he has a history of making terrible choices when it comes to his own addiction to alchohol.  In my case, I can and have emphasized with my brother because there was a time when I too made life choices that led to my own addiction.  When it came to my own addiction to pornography, I often struggled as to why the Lord would allow me to suffer through that hell.  I can only imagine the struggles and questions which my friend is asking of the Father these days.  But what many in the Christian community have been missing is that the addictions we suffer are all too often a result of our own choices we make.  Yes, God is all in all, but He has also created us in His very likeness, with the ability to make choices for ourselves {Genesis 1:27}.  This is why it is a good thing when we come to that realization of our own self-destructive behavior that we seek the help of the Lord through prayer.  In my own addiction, I knew that I what I was doing went against what the Lord had planned for me.  I chose the flesh and not the Lord.  This is the devils choice.  Does this mean that our choices led to our own separation from God?  Not at all.  Those within the mainstream church will tell us that it is our sin which leads us into separation from the Lord.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Yet through our own choices, we choose to accept this lie of the church as truth.  

For all am I strong in Him Who is invigorating me -- Christ! 

Paul to the Ephesians 4: 13, Concordant New Testament 

Those who know me have asked me more than a few times how it is that I overcame my own addiction.  I have one simple answer them...Jesus.  I recall standing outside that strip club that night, about to feed my addiction once again, when I suddenly had the thought that this was not the man that I really was.  At the time I wasn't aware of just who I was, but I had the feeling that my choices of the flesh were not a part of it.  Something changed in me that night.  I often feel that this must have been how the apostle Paul felt when he looked back on his trip down that road to Damascus.  That man Saul wasn't who he truly was.  Paul speaks to this in Galatians, that "When it delights God," that He would reveal His son in him {Paul to the Galatians 1: 15-16}.  I believe that my own life followed the similar path as Paul's life did.  So, what can Paul's experience teach us about our own addictions?  Well, first, that there is always room for God to reveal unto us how He looks upon us and not how the world sees us.  Whenever I come across someone in the struggle of addiction, my first question is always, "Who do you see when you look in the mirror?"  More often than not, others will tell me that they see a failure rejected by God because of their sin.  They've chosen to accept the lie of the deceiver.  When I stood outside that building that night, I knew in that moment that something had changed.  I wasn't that guy I thought I had been.  In that moment, the Father opened the door to an entire new reality for me.  My life is not in the world, but in the Father {Johns Account 14:20}.  Those in the church will tell me that my sin has separated me from God.  The evangel of Christ Jesus assures me that Jesus has given Himself once for the sin of all {Paul to the Romans 6:10}.  

~Scott~