Friday, April 15, 2011

Losing "Friends"

I was reading something this morning from Craig Gross and Steven Luff who were talking about breaking free from sinful patterns that have defined and captured our lives, specifically in this case, pornography. However, it can apply to all kinds of sin - substance abuse, sexual sins, being a workaholic, pride, greed, envy, bitterness, etc. They said this:
As many men can attest, going sober can be an otherworldly experience. If you are going sober, you really may feel as if you are losing a friend (and in essence you are - you're losing the worst friend you ever had, a friend who lies to you, cheats on you, and steals from you). Ultimately it's like an abusive relationship where an individual systematically isolates you, twists the truth you once knew and understood, and keeps you under his control by telling you that the world you once knew doesn't understand you but that he does.

So what's it going to be like walking away from this "friend"? It's going to be scary, it's going to take a lot of courage, and most of all, it's going to take a lot of faith in God that all the promises he offers you in Scripture really do exist, even if you can't quite see them (as Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:7, "We live by faith, not by sight"). (Pure Eyes, pg. 146)
Now that is a friend we want to be rid of . . . Unfortunately, I have kept "friends" like that around far too long. Have you?

Why do we hold on so often to this "friend" who is destroying us and making us into people we don't want to be?

What prevents us from moving forward and trusting in God and His promises for us?

No comments:

Post a Comment