Rest-----

Hills and Mountains.Heights and depths.

Ups and downs.

Life.

Life is hard enough without drugs and alcohol. Throw these two in the mix and those hills and mountains become the Alps and the Andes times 100.

Yet we keep trying to get around them. We plot and we plan (or at least we think we're planning) only to find out we are simply going round in circles.

Expending our energy and strength in vast amounts, yet never getting anywhere.

When we realize that we aren't getting anywhere, we try even harder.

On and on.

At some point, we simply give up and quit.

Mentally, we are drowning in shame and guilt.

Physically we have aged beyond our years.

Spiritually we are trapped in darkness, a prisoner to our addiction.

It isn't that we don't want to quit. We can't.

Here in this darkness, an incredible thing happens.

In the story of the prodigal son, it is described this way....."He came to his senses."

There is this lucid moment where truth comes into our hearts.

It comes in the form of a promise....

God speaks to us from His promises.
God communicates to us through His promises.

Matthew 11:28 ------"COME!"

What an incredible word, "come".

An invitation to arise from where we are and make our way to where the invitation came from.

"Come unto me!" Who would be offering this to us? Do they not see our current lot in life? Do they not understand how much destruction we have caused? Surely this invitation is for someone else. No! it is for you and for me.

"Come unto me, all that labour and are heavy laden."
We laboured. We sold our soul to the devil's company store in order to get what we thought we truly wanted. To get that which we believed we could not live without. Heavy Laden? That was us. Bent under the condemnation and guilt and shame that was a part of our addiction. Added to that weight was the inescapable knowledge that we were sinners. Heavy Laden? You bet.

That is the qualification for the invitation. The realization that we are under the weight of sin and have no way to free ourselves. There in the stark reality of our lot in life, comes the most incredible promise ever spoken...."And---I---Will---give---you---rest!" Six little words that carry more power than all the bombs in the world. Who could make such an offer except the one who was capable of doing so? The Lord Jesus Christ stands ready, always inviting those who are bent under addiction and sin.

There is no person so far gone that this invitation isn't extended to. The only ones who cannot partake of God's promise are the ones who choose not to. In this case, who is at fault for not being free? God or them?

First three steps of the Twelve Steps say this.

1.) I'm powerless

2.) There is a POWER greater than me.

3.) Turn my will and life over to the care of this Power (Jesus Christ).

This isn't game.
It isn't self-help, pop psychology.
It is the eternal truth spoken by God to a creation that is drowning and dying in their sin.

Today is the day for you to step from your addiction.

Trade with God.
Give Him your life and all your past and accept His future, His love and the life He has planned for you.

Hey....
When you do business with God...
You never trade down....
You always trade up....

God on you...

mb