The Well

Connecting Hope to the Hurting

Tuesday
July 29, 2008

GO AND TELL!

Go out! Prepare the highway for my people to return! Smooth out the road; pull out the boulders; raise a flag for all the nations to see. The Lord has sent this message to every land: "Tell the people of Israel, 'Look, your Savior is coming. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.' They will be called the Holy People and the People Redeemed by the Lord. And Jerusalem will be known as the Desirable Place and the City No Longer Forsaken.'"
Isaiah 62:10-12

How seriously have we taken God's message to "Go and tell the world"? I am afraid that we haven't taken it far seriously enough. Do people look at you and call you a "Holy Person, Redeemed by the Lord"? Ouch! Sometimes in our quest to be "real" with real people we lose sight of being clothed with His righteousness. Maybe I'm not talking to you; maybe the Holy Spirit is just talking to me.

Being a person who is in close relationship with recovering addicts, I often find that once people leave a treatment program it isn't long until their addictions begin to slowly creep back into their life. I have often wondered why and I think God has shown me the answer.

While in treatment programs, people are on strict schedules. In most Christian treatment programs even television is not allowed because of the lewd commercials and content of some of the programming. In settings like that they are protected from the influence of the world until the substance they have abused has left their system. They often discover a new sense of vitality and are actually able to think clearly enough to recognize that God has a plan for their lives.

These same people leave treatment centers on fire to tell their story and help others reach a new understanding of their addictions. However, as they begin to paddle the waters of the world, they find themselves flowing more in the turbulence of troubles than with the serenity of the Holy Spirit blowing through their sails. I asked the Lord how this happens. He gave me a clue.

  1. It starts with a lack of accountability and structure.
  2. Television leads to the comparison game that comes as they see a false side of how the world views family, friends, and even working relationships.
  3. When their lives don't measure up, they begin trying to fill the gap with whatever works in the moment.
Until they/we begin walking in the sincerity of God's plan and purpose for our lives they/we will yield more and more to our addictions; which include everything from alcohol to gossip and beyond.

People who have worked through twelve step programs have proven that working the twelfth step is profound: "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs" (The Twelve Steps for Christians). So, telling the story of what Christ has done, is doing, and will do in the future is vital to our well-being and in carrying out the Kingdom work He told us to do ages ago. There is no better time than right now to start doing just that.

Father, too often we fail You in not telling our story. We get caught up in trivial affairs and lose sight of what You are doing right now. Help us Lord, to be on fire and looking forward to Your second coming, but not to the extent that we forget to tell people that You are one with us now.
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All Scripture is taken from "The New Living Translation unless otherwise notated."
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