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I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13
REFLECTION
What about drinking successfully or normally? Shouldn’t we be able to do this, then?
Surely there are people who once having had a heavy drinking problem, faced some consequences and/or choices and decided to stop. Then, later, they decide to drink normally, socially, appropriately.
That can happen, right? It does happen.
But.
Let’s stop misappropriating things for our own devices. The thing that happens to the person with an actual addiction problem is that they’ll begin concocting scenarios in their head that either exempt them from alcoholism or allow them to graduate from it once criteria have been met.
There’s nothing new here. We have been doing this since the dawn of grapes probably. Justification is the sword that kills the holder.
The believer can be faced with an even greater mental hurdle if they start delving into scripture like this alone and without the lens of their past.
Surely God is omnipotent and capable of anything. I won’t argue against Him.
But I will argue against my itty-bitty humanity—the curious, incessant bickering that marks all of my wondering in this regard.
I don’t care about glorifying God when I ponder being cured. I’m just thinking about a way to have something back that I enjoyed.
So instead of longing for the past, my proper posture is looking toward how He is strengthening me in the present because of my past.
This is the less glamorous route. This is unfamiliar territory. This is where uncertainty thrives like kudzu.
But this is where we are actually equipped to help others the most.
The question isn’t “can I do?”, it’s “will I serve?”
God, help me question the right things and be strengthened for your work.
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