Back when I was a namesake, Sunday "Christian" there were times when I almost felt like a martian chilling with a bunch of humans... I wondered if something was wrong with me. Ever tried saying "NO" to alcohol around a group of people who drink it like water? Well I have!!! And every time time my favourite excuse was: "Ahhh well, I don't mind getting a little tipsy... I just cant stand the taste!". At the back of my mind I had like a gazillion questions coiled around.
What if they'd find me less cooler? What if they'd figure out I stand out with my choices.What if they'd see I didn't belong there? And certainly, I now know, I never belonged there. Initially, I was too apprehensive to defend my stance on certain things but as I found the TRUTH, it really has set me FREE!!!
I am not here to judge those who drink, smoke or find pleasure in any kind of addiction even without realising it, but I am here just to show them "well its not okay! There is a problem and they are in bondage.”
Well, what exactly is an ADDICTION? An addiction is a continuous habit that enslaves a person on a continual basis. The addiction essentially becomes your god, why? Because you are in essence worshiping it, it controls you rather than you controlling it.
I have also come across individuals (to be honest, mostly Christians or the other know-it-all's who think that if they know a couple of Bible stories or some verses here and there, that they know Jesus) - how well they defend their actions by saying; "Its okay to drink, Jesus himself made booze! Didn't He turn water into wine?" Well to them I would say that Jesus also fed five thousand and washed his disciple's feet, do they ever consider that? Scriptures are not something to be bent according to personal comforts and interest.
First of all, Jesus was by no chance performing His first miracle to send the wedding guests into a frenzy by intoxicating them with strong alcoholic drinks. The kind of wine He created was probably also served to kids in the Wedding of Cana. Many debate it was grape juice not wine but that doesn't really matter. Even if we give into believing it was wine then you better know, wines at that time were naturally fermented which had a tremendously less amount of alcohol concentration, compared to today's wine which can easily slosh you. I like what I once read... you'd have to literally drink the wine that Jesus made to death, to get drunk!
And one thing people who use it as a cover need to know is that, the same Word which tells us of Jesus turning water into wine also says that "the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor 'DRUNKARDS', nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the Kingdom of God." 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Evil is good corrupted. Just like making love to one person that The Lord made for you is something so beautiful but sleeping around is evil. Just like eating a reasonable meal is good but stuffing till you puke your stomach out is gluttony. Just like enjoying all the things God created is to cherish the work of His hands but to make those very things your idol is wrong... Likewise, alcohol in moderation can't be called wrong... Drinking in itself is not bad but getting Drunk is.
So does it suggests a person who follows Jesus can drink and still go to the bars on weekends??? Ummm I highly doubt that if you ask me. Any habit that has a potential of growing into a sin should have nothing to do with us, and that applies to almost everything. The moment you become weak, it provides a soft spot that the devil will attack to bring you down.
I see it as SLACKLINING, the activity of balancing and walking on a piece of bouncy nylon rope suspended above the ground. There are chances that you will walk through without falling but the chances are pretty slim. That's how it is with sin, you can't just play around and expect to get all clean.
Trust me when I say; it's one sick lie that this world can make you believe in, "Do as many mistakes as it takes to find your destiny, take wrong decisions and directions, bungle it up as much as you can 'cause you get to live only once. why play safe?"
Well to that I would say; "Sir, there would be nothing left to invest by the time you get back to the right track and if you do, you'll get so wrapped up in the chaos you won't even want to get back. We're living in, 'it's my life', 'good girl gone bad', 'the young and the hopeless' times after all. What else can we expect from the world anyway?!!!
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And whoever tells you that there is nothing like good and bad, it's how you perceive it, to that I'd say; it's like finding no difference between a room filled with huge blinding lights and a dark one. Good and evil are two extreme opposites.
And with that said, sin doesn't always steps in, in its entirety. It creeps in, in the most deceiving way.
We make ourselves believe that a few drinks doesn't necessarily make me a drunkard, 2 cigarettes in a day is normal or I can't get addicted to pornography by watching a few video clips that don't even show it all. But you should very well know that sin grows like a cancer if you let it in and feed it, a few drinks will turn into a week long bender, 2 cigarettes in a day will become 2 cigarettes in an hour and how pornography can seriously damage, not just the present but the future prospects as well.
People who watch porn, fail to love their current/future spouse since it exhausts all the love within, all that remains is lust. Women don't admit but they struggle with it as much as men do, that's not all, and it wouldn't be wrong if I say that a whole lot of Pastors do too. Our flesh can never be satisfied just like sin. It keeps asking for more till it devours all of you.
So addictions can be seen in the same light... Some might also say: "We know where and when to stop and our will power is stronger than any addiction." Well great! That's awesome, I wish all had that strength but what really happens most of the time is the opposite. If you leave a little crack in the wall unguarded, that's exactly where the devil will get in from and widen it, to completely smash down the firewall.
I know a man who intensely disliked alcohol all his life but had to resort to drinking a few sips each night because he was an insomniac and drinking helped him to get to sleep. I wish I could end it here but those few sips took a toll on him and later this 'strong willed' man became a slave to it. This is what happens most of the time.
More than half of the population indulge in drinking, drugs, smoking and/or pornography to escape their reality. They believe somehow, that they'll be able to get away with the emptiness and the hopelessness that comes with sin but it only decays them quicker. A person who knows and walks with Christ can never understand that kind of logic because every time calamity strikes that person hard, Christ is the only refuge he/she will run back to... not a pack of stress busting cigarettes.
"Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit" Ephesians 5;18.
I once met a beautiful young girl at a Christian camp some years back, she was there for all the reasons but God. I later found that she was into a habit of smoking and it came to me as a shock because she was way too young for that. Now I don't mean that there is a certain age that is appropriate to get into it but what really made me wonder was; "what could have made this fragile young mind end up here? Where are her parents? Shouldn't they be guarding her eyes and mind?"
Later, through her stories I got to know the array of events that lead her here. She was from a good family, apparently. I suspected two things; Either her parents would be least bothered, or they'd be too rigid in their ways... both extremes can be highly dangerous. Parenting is not an easy business folks, nada!
In her case it was the latter one, her parents imposed many restrictions on her and no matter how hard she tried to make them believe, they locked her in. Parents don't have to be tyrants, children don't want shackles, they want you to lead them, to guard their minds with love and come up with a rod when you need to.
It's always seen that children of such parents become rebellious because of the lack of trust and lack of opportunities. What's held too tight always slips out.
That's what happened with this girl, she ended up doing the same things which her parents would have dreaded. They basically aimed right, they wanted to protect her but their approach was wrong. The girl was weary of the attempts she made to win their trust and in order to have her way, she became a REBEL.
I don't justify her actions either, looking for freedom she made herself a SLAVE, instead. And when I asked whether she wanted to return? She refused point blank because she was in bondage now. At an age when she would have been graciously nurtured to become a Godly woman... she got mislead.
Some take this road because they are clueless, others just follow the crowd, some are miserable victims of peer pressure and the remaining are the ones to whom it is passed down, passed down by their parents, siblings. In the majority of cases, drunkard fathers will only make their own replica... this can be miserable though.
Bottom line is, whenever we make something bigger than God, it becomes an IDOL and any form of idolatry drains us in every possible way. My spiritual partner keeps quoting: "You can't live with one foot in the world and one out", totally!!! An Idol doesn't necessarily mean a 'golden calf' or some 'statue of stone'. It is everything that takes the glory that only God deserves. It can be anything... For men it could be any engine, convertibles, gadgets, sexual drives, masturbation etc. For women it could be clothing, fashion, make-up etc. Or the common ones; facebook, career, relationships, sports.
It's interesting to know how even good things can become your idol, not just the bad ones. Many people make good works their idol, good works alone CAN'T save you... people can do good works for various reasons but God seeks a person after His own heart.
"In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin reign your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master. - Romans 6; 11-14
We are no longer partakers of sin because we serve Jesus and Him alone, the Word of God is clear about it; "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other." - Matthew 6:24
We are called out to be the people who are so high on Jesus, so intoxicated with peace, joy, love and the fruits of the Spirit that even Bacardi 151 would seem like lemonade, ha!
Only Christ can satisfy that thirst. He's the living water and whoever drinks from Him shall never be thirsty again.
Thanks for reading, if you are someone struggling with some kind of an addiction and God is pressing upon you to break this curse and to run back to the arms of the only Saviour and you need help and want someone to talk about it, feel free to write to me. My email address is: singh.niharika421@gmail.com
Stay blessed,
Remember Christ did not come to judge and condemn, but to save!!!
What if they'd find me less cooler? What if they'd figure out I stand out with my choices.What if they'd see I didn't belong there? And certainly, I now know, I never belonged there. Initially, I was too apprehensive to defend my stance on certain things but as I found the TRUTH, it really has set me FREE!!!
I am not here to judge those who drink, smoke or find pleasure in any kind of addiction even without realising it, but I am here just to show them "well its not okay! There is a problem and they are in bondage.”
Well, what exactly is an ADDICTION? An addiction is a continuous habit that enslaves a person on a continual basis. The addiction essentially becomes your god, why? Because you are in essence worshiping it, it controls you rather than you controlling it.
I have also come across individuals (to be honest, mostly Christians or the other know-it-all's who think that if they know a couple of Bible stories or some verses here and there, that they know Jesus) - how well they defend their actions by saying; "Its okay to drink, Jesus himself made booze! Didn't He turn water into wine?" Well to them I would say that Jesus also fed five thousand and washed his disciple's feet, do they ever consider that? Scriptures are not something to be bent according to personal comforts and interest.
First of all, Jesus was by no chance performing His first miracle to send the wedding guests into a frenzy by intoxicating them with strong alcoholic drinks. The kind of wine He created was probably also served to kids in the Wedding of Cana. Many debate it was grape juice not wine but that doesn't really matter. Even if we give into believing it was wine then you better know, wines at that time were naturally fermented which had a tremendously less amount of alcohol concentration, compared to today's wine which can easily slosh you. I like what I once read... you'd have to literally drink the wine that Jesus made to death, to get drunk!
And one thing people who use it as a cover need to know is that, the same Word which tells us of Jesus turning water into wine also says that "the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor 'DRUNKARDS', nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the Kingdom of God." 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Evil is good corrupted. Just like making love to one person that The Lord made for you is something so beautiful but sleeping around is evil. Just like eating a reasonable meal is good but stuffing till you puke your stomach out is gluttony. Just like enjoying all the things God created is to cherish the work of His hands but to make those very things your idol is wrong... Likewise, alcohol in moderation can't be called wrong... Drinking in itself is not bad but getting Drunk is.
So does it suggests a person who follows Jesus can drink and still go to the bars on weekends??? Ummm I highly doubt that if you ask me. Any habit that has a potential of growing into a sin should have nothing to do with us, and that applies to almost everything. The moment you become weak, it provides a soft spot that the devil will attack to bring you down.
I see it as SLACKLINING, the activity of balancing and walking on a piece of bouncy nylon rope suspended above the ground. There are chances that you will walk through without falling but the chances are pretty slim. That's how it is with sin, you can't just play around and expect to get all clean.
It's like quicksand, once you get into it, it'll pull you in deeper no matter how hard you try to come out.
Trust me when I say; it's one sick lie that this world can make you believe in, "Do as many mistakes as it takes to find your destiny, take wrong decisions and directions, bungle it up as much as you can 'cause you get to live only once. why play safe?"
Well to that I would say; "Sir, there would be nothing left to invest by the time you get back to the right track and if you do, you'll get so wrapped up in the chaos you won't even want to get back. We're living in, 'it's my life', 'good girl gone bad', 'the young and the hopeless' times after all. What else can we expect from the world anyway?!!!
.jpg)
And whoever tells you that there is nothing like good and bad, it's how you perceive it, to that I'd say; it's like finding no difference between a room filled with huge blinding lights and a dark one. Good and evil are two extreme opposites.
And with that said, sin doesn't always steps in, in its entirety. It creeps in, in the most deceiving way.
We make ourselves believe that a few drinks doesn't necessarily make me a drunkard, 2 cigarettes in a day is normal or I can't get addicted to pornography by watching a few video clips that don't even show it all. But you should very well know that sin grows like a cancer if you let it in and feed it, a few drinks will turn into a week long bender, 2 cigarettes in a day will become 2 cigarettes in an hour and how pornography can seriously damage, not just the present but the future prospects as well.
People who watch porn, fail to love their current/future spouse since it exhausts all the love within, all that remains is lust. Women don't admit but they struggle with it as much as men do, that's not all, and it wouldn't be wrong if I say that a whole lot of Pastors do too. Our flesh can never be satisfied just like sin. It keeps asking for more till it devours all of you.
I know a man who intensely disliked alcohol all his life but had to resort to drinking a few sips each night because he was an insomniac and drinking helped him to get to sleep. I wish I could end it here but those few sips took a toll on him and later this 'strong willed' man became a slave to it. This is what happens most of the time.
More than half of the population indulge in drinking, drugs, smoking and/or pornography to escape their reality. They believe somehow, that they'll be able to get away with the emptiness and the hopelessness that comes with sin but it only decays them quicker. A person who knows and walks with Christ can never understand that kind of logic because every time calamity strikes that person hard, Christ is the only refuge he/she will run back to... not a pack of stress busting cigarettes.
"Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit" Ephesians 5;18.
I once met a beautiful young girl at a Christian camp some years back, she was there for all the reasons but God. I later found that she was into a habit of smoking and it came to me as a shock because she was way too young for that. Now I don't mean that there is a certain age that is appropriate to get into it but what really made me wonder was; "what could have made this fragile young mind end up here? Where are her parents? Shouldn't they be guarding her eyes and mind?"
Later, through her stories I got to know the array of events that lead her here. She was from a good family, apparently. I suspected two things; Either her parents would be least bothered, or they'd be too rigid in their ways... both extremes can be highly dangerous. Parenting is not an easy business folks, nada!
In her case it was the latter one, her parents imposed many restrictions on her and no matter how hard she tried to make them believe, they locked her in. Parents don't have to be tyrants, children don't want shackles, they want you to lead them, to guard their minds with love and come up with a rod when you need to.
It's always seen that children of such parents become rebellious because of the lack of trust and lack of opportunities. What's held too tight always slips out.
That's what happened with this girl, she ended up doing the same things which her parents would have dreaded. They basically aimed right, they wanted to protect her but their approach was wrong. The girl was weary of the attempts she made to win their trust and in order to have her way, she became a REBEL.
I don't justify her actions either, looking for freedom she made herself a SLAVE, instead. And when I asked whether she wanted to return? She refused point blank because she was in bondage now. At an age when she would have been graciously nurtured to become a Godly woman... she got mislead.
Some take this road because they are clueless, others just follow the crowd, some are miserable victims of peer pressure and the remaining are the ones to whom it is passed down, passed down by their parents, siblings. In the majority of cases, drunkard fathers will only make their own replica... this can be miserable though.
Bottom line is, whenever we make something bigger than God, it becomes an IDOL and any form of idolatry drains us in every possible way. My spiritual partner keeps quoting: "You can't live with one foot in the world and one out", totally!!! An Idol doesn't necessarily mean a 'golden calf' or some 'statue of stone'. It is everything that takes the glory that only God deserves. It can be anything... For men it could be any engine, convertibles, gadgets, sexual drives, masturbation etc. For women it could be clothing, fashion, make-up etc. Or the common ones; facebook, career, relationships, sports.
It's interesting to know how even good things can become your idol, not just the bad ones. Many people make good works their idol, good works alone CAN'T save you... people can do good works for various reasons but God seeks a person after His own heart.
"In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin reign your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master. - Romans 6; 11-14
We are no longer partakers of sin because we serve Jesus and Him alone, the Word of God is clear about it; "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other." - Matthew 6:24
We are called out to be the people who are so high on Jesus, so intoxicated with peace, joy, love and the fruits of the Spirit that even Bacardi 151 would seem like lemonade, ha!
Only Christ can satisfy that thirst. He's the living water and whoever drinks from Him shall never be thirsty again.
Thanks for reading, if you are someone struggling with some kind of an addiction and God is pressing upon you to break this curse and to run back to the arms of the only Saviour and you need help and want someone to talk about it, feel free to write to me. My email address is: singh.niharika421@gmail.com
Stay blessed,
Remember Christ did not come to judge and condemn, but to save!!!
I simply loved what you have written. Every word and every sentence is hard hitting naked truth.I'm so proud of u my dear.I really believe whoever gonna read this its definitely gonna have a positive impact in their life...<3
ReplyDeleteAhhh.. I really appreciate the effortless writing skills and your exploration of truth in life. I admire your thought provoking examples. "Scriptures are not something to be bent according to personal comforts and interest"- I love this thought as tip of iceberg. Well we all know we follow our respective religions as far as it is under our comfort zones. But throughout my life I saw many who learnt from mistake/s. BUDHA well known preacher of his own philosophies of life when streched to reality of death. They never closed their eyes whenever they experienced sin. And worth mentioning is an old proverb you can't create beautiful pots without getting your hands dirty in mud. Afterall, if god think in same way that we human beings are sinful and if he get involve in all this he will spoil his time and energy on us. Then what will happen with us. I can give you one example, there is one person who is living a sinful life. And everybody left him for sake of thier pure life. Is this purety is meaningful! ! Many wise will say "no". So its more worthy to jump in mud and give hands to needies. if by drinking one glass of wine u can tell that " See- I tasted this but I bet that you wouldn't like it as juice taste better than wine".
ReplyDeleteAnd I still believe that every religion give us freedom to decide what we like best. God will never be happy if he see all of us doing things blindfold instead he would like to see all of us to do mistake, learn lessons from them and than proudly do what is right.. You never explain how water taste till you don't drink it!
At the end still I appreciate the way you put your thoughts for benefit of all. Hatts off for initiatives
I am very grateful that you put your efforts on reading it and took time to think over it as well. I truly appreciate that.
ReplyDeleteLearning from mistakes, well I am by no means opposing that. All I am saying is, don't swing too long on the learning- from-a-mistake trick!
Once you know something isn't gonna benefit you and rather cause you harm, would you still wanna risk a chance to just go take a sneak peak and get back all clean?
Let me put it this way, would you deliberately wanna go touch naked wires carrying current, just for the heck of it?.Just so you know how it feels like? And now that you've tried and you didn't quite enjoy it, you wouldn't do it again. Umm nada! I don't think so!
I completely agree to what you said about the pot making and the process to go about it.
That's exactly how God intervened. Jesus dirtied not just His hands but His entire self. He became a human, stood spotless through it all but for our sake, he took our sins and bore the wrath of His father so we might be spared. He made an attonment for our past, present and the future sins through His death. That's mercy and we still have the choice to choose between life and death.
Life is Christ and death is any other thing that you choose over him.
And hear me out clearly when I say, its NOT ENOUGH to live a sinless life.. Good works are not good enough. Because its faith that vindicates us, not what we do because our good works are like dirty rags in front of a Holy God we serve.
But does that mean I can go on sinning using 'faith' as a cover. NO!!!!!! When we choose Jesus we become slaves to righteousness.
I've tried this sin, this sin and that one too but as soon as I KNEW Jesus I say no to all and Yes to Him!!!!
You don't have to dirty yourself in the process of pulling someone out from a pit. Jesus didn't come to kill the sinners like most supposed "gods" claim to do. He came to save them.
He didn't seclude Himself from the dirty world, live an ascetic life go to some mountain for some vain meditation, rather he picked the most unlikely bunch to extend his kingdom... tax collectors, fishermen, prostitutes, or someone like Paul.
He stayed in the midst of it all sinless.
"He who knew no sin was made sin" and we choose to follow that Jesus.
I want you to watch this video (via falling plates)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGlx11BxF24&feature=youtube_gdata_player