This is what the Lord says he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you... - Isaiah 44:2
God knows you! He has the box top with the picture of the whole you! He formed you from the beginning in your mother's womb. To what detail does God know you?
And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Matthew 10:30.
Forget the box top, God doesn't even need it! He knows how many hairs you have on your head! Nevertheless, we try to rely on the self sufficiency the world sells us. We try to put our lives back together ourselves. We try to fix it but truth be told, we simply are not very good at it because we do not know what we are supposed to look like; fully whole. The resulting pain pushes us further into the world and the remedies it offers. Not feeling well? Take a pill! But the world only treats the symptoms; not the cause. It treats the surface and ignores the root. The problem beloved, is not the addiction; that is a symptom of being separated from God. The problem is not the relationships, that is the symptom of being separated from God. The problem is not the pornography, greed, or lust; those are symptoms of being separated from God.
The problem is that we were seeking the living amongst the dead. We were seeking the living God, in the dead world. And when we couldn't find the living God, we sought something else to take our life over. Something else to be our God. Perhaps the addiction became our God. Perhaps the inappropriate relationships became our God whether you were the controller or the controlled. Perhaps the pornography or rebellious lifestyle became our God. But there is no life in these false Gods beloved. There is no life in drugs and alcohol; only death. There is no life in pornography, addictions, and relationships of man; only death. Yet this is what we sought to fill our lives before Christ. This is what we sought to fill that empty God space in our hearts. We walked into the tombs the world offered us and sought the living God amongst the dead promises the world made us.
This dynamic can continue even after salvation. God's church is designed to affect the world for Christ but too often we see the world invading the church. We can spend our personal walks in search of the deliverance God already provided for us at Calvary. The church is constantly searching for revival, indicating that a regressed state already exists. God's church was not designed to be constantly on the defensive, trying to regain territory!
Even as Christians though we can fall prey to the ways of the world. We too can seek the living amongst the dead. I have long heard Christians dismiss the very teachings of Christ because they did not think they were possible. Yes the bar is set high. When Jesus says we are to turn the other cheek, pray for our enemies, and forgive our brothers seven times seventy times He means JUST THAT. They were not figures of speech or some "pie in the sky" theology. As Christians we have a higher calling and a higher responsibility. Remember the words of our Savior:
"That servant who knows his master's will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. Luke 12: 47-48
