Condition Critical

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.