Had to go into town yesterday to take care of some business, and along the way I stopped by American Thrift Store. I have taken up the habit of making the rounds of our local thrift stores to peruse the book section, seeing what finds I may come across in the book section.
I have built a good reference library from my finds, and am always eager to see what has been discarded. Which brings me to today's posting. As I moved down row upon row of books, there it was. I haven't seen too many other copies of this book, and as my eyes came upon it, I began to wonder about why it was here among the other cast off's. Now I know that a body can only hang on to so many books, and at some point, people have to decide what to do with them. But in my own case, there are certain books that I will never discard because they keep me grounded in my daily life, and I refer to them time and time again. Books such as The Cost Of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminds me that the grace of God is not to be treated like these books that have been relegated to the thrift store. No longer of value. Spiritual Authority by Watchmen Nee, gave me insight into the nature of God's authority and what is expected of me as a follower of Christ.
It looked brand new. No pages bent. It wasn't soiled or had coffee stains on it. There was nothing underlined in it. No notes written in the margins. Not even an entry inside the cover of who this book may have belonged to. "How did you get here?" I thought to myself. More importantly, "Why are you here?"
Did someone who was struggling in their addiction receive this book from a person who loved them and wanted to see them have and experience real life free from the pain and darkness of addiction? Did the owner of the book even open it and read the message of hope found within the pages?
"Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program."
Maybe the owner of this book was not ready to recover. I totally understand that mindset. Maybe the simple fact of owning such a book was an admission that they needed help, and in the deceitfulness of the human mind, the thought came that "If I discard this book, then no one will ever know the problem I am struggling with." Such is what I call "Addicta-logic". Secretly I will admit I have a problem, but I know that I can come up with my own solution that will turn everything around. Sorry, Charlie...You can't be the problem AND the solution. It just doesn't work that way. Besides, if you had read a little more of this book, you'd have read where the addict/alcoholic always looks for the easier softer way to turn life around. In other words, they are not ready to give themselves to a simple program that provides a framework and discipline that is applied to daily life.
The program has no power to change anyone....
The Power that comes to us is from turning will and life over to the care of God.
God's saving grace, and subsequent filling of His Holy Spirit is the missing piece in our inability to break free of the sin/addiction prison that has plagued every effort to be sober. Even at the point of moving into this new found sobriety, we discover that our new relationship with Jesus is so much more than what we thought it would be. Sobriety is just a small piece of what we find as we make spiritual progress in our daily walk.
SO, there in that thrift store, I reached out and pulled that book off the shelf.
At the check out counter, the cashier rang up the book and said to me..."That will be $1.00 please." One dollar. Think about it...for one dollar I purchased a book that pointed the way to a new beginning for someone in addiction. For one dollar, I got a book that, as a good friend of mine has stated so many times, "Will cause you to bump your head on the cross if you work it." In other words, you will find Christ as the Higher Power who can free you.
Such a valuable book should be worth more than a dollar, don't you think?
God on you..
mbb
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