It was just fruit......
A simple piece of fruit, nothing more.....
We don't know what type of fruit it was. That's not important.
What is important is that a single decision was made....
A choice made by about this piece of fruit, by two people, altered everything.
It changed the very fabric of life.
No one has known life as these two did.
They had the perfect place to dwell and raise a family.
They had the favor of God resting on them.
They had communication with God on a level that mankind has not experienced since the day of the bad decision.
You see, it wasn't the fruit that contained a deadly power that would alter everything. The fruit was simply fruit. It was the heart and the mind that came together in willful disobedience that brought the downfall. Once the decision was made and the behavior was carried out, God had no choice but to come and discipline them.
Not take that action of disobedience from a single thought and multiply by thousands....maybe even hundreds of thousands. Bad choices and bad actions. Stack them up one on top of another and you've got the recipe for a life that is not doing well. You've got the recipe for a life of misery and destruction. In the case of this day's posting here at the Greene Street Letters, you've got a life that is mired down in the bondage of addiction.
Humanity makes bad decisions.
I make bad decisions.
But when you introduce a mind-altering substance into the equation, it only leads to a bad ending.
When you introduce a mood-altering substance into the equation, you have given the reins over to someone else to call the shots in your life. You get to the point that you are only a slave to the drug and/or alcohol. It speaks........you do. It demands.......you give it what it wants. You are a slave.
Every story of addiction begins in the same manner.
It starts with a choice being made.
Doesn't seem to harmful at first.
We make choices everyday. Why would this one be different.
Because it involves being disobedient.
Have you noticed how disobedience and rebellion are good bed buddies. One seems to follow the other when this is the course we take with our choices and decisions. But that is whole other story, isn't it?
So what's the answer to this age old problem of making bad decisions?
You may not like it.
The answer is Jesus.
Yep! That guy from the Bible.
God in flesh.
God come down here to old planet earth to straighten out the mess.
Well, how does it work.
It begins with you coming under the influence of God's presence.
In other words, you become painfully aware that a change has got to take place. Believe me when such a thought is brought to heart and mind, the old way of doing things is going to fight back. It will scream at you, "Don't do this! Don't you go there with this God thing! You know all those religious folks you know are crazy! You'll never have fun again, ever!"
But when the choice is made by the individual to give in and admit they are powerless and their lives have become unmanageable, then God will take them through the healing process of reestablishing a relationship with Him. Once that has been put in place, it is a matter of staying connected through prayer (that would simply be talking to and listening for God) reading His word and, what the Bible refers to as "Digesting it" or letting what you read soak down into your heart and mind. Next is a biggie. Find yourself some people to hang out with. Notice I didn't say "Go to a meeting with". I said hang out. Take a chance and put yourself out there so you can meet some people who are on the same journey you are on.
Learn to trust God. Learn to not trust your own decision making.
I promise you if you keep on this trek, this new way of making decisions will become like second nature and you grow in this relationship with Jesus.
Believe me....
It is well worth it.
God on you...
mb
No comments:
Post a Comment