Lenten Devotional - Day 24

Scripture: Galatians 5:1-6

“For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (Gal. 5:1)

  Christ has set us free. We are free. Thanks be to God.

  I want you to take a minute and think about a difficult time where you felt as though you were trapped in your life, or unable to make a change. How did you get through? Did you move on in your life only later to return to what was causing problems in the first place?

  We can take this lesson in scripture and apply it to so many aspects of our lives. For instance, we can start with something easy and look at dieting. How many of you have ever started a diet on New Year’s Day? How many of you were still committed to your diet by March? How many by April? For those of you who no longer became committed to the diet, think about what happened. Did you decide to have a piece of cake at a party one day? Did you decide that it was okay to have an extra serving of your favorite meal that mom made (because you wouldn’t want things to go to waste, now would we?) and things just started to go downhill from there?

  When we break out of a cycle it is often so easy to slowly pick up and return to what we were initially doing in the first place (in a short amount of time). This can truly be said about many aspects of one’s life, whether it’s dieting, exercise, drinking, smoking, money, gambling, shopping, etc.

  What the scripture tells us is that we are free, Christ has set us free. Thanks, be to God that we can be free! However, what the scripture also tells us is that we must stand firm and not submit again to a yoke of slavery. We know that Christ has set us free however, this does not mean that we can go back to the same demons that he has set us free from and expect that everything will be okay. We have a responsibility to stand firm and to not submit ourselves to that slavery. Slavery is a very strong word. How often do we make ourselves slaves to different vices in life? Sometimes it’s easy to overlook this.

  Lent is a season where we are called back to enter a right relationship with Christ. We have the blessing of knowing that we are accepted for whom we are as sinners and that God has promised that we are not alone. God has also promised us that we are free; he has set us free from whatever has enslaved us in our lives. However, God is also telling us that we have a responsibility to be accountable and to choose not to return to old behaviors that can bring us back into that cycle of slavery again. Thanks, be to God for the blessing and lessons we have in life, and for giving us the ability to move forward and to change.

Elizabeth Comer, Contributor

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Lenten Devotional - Day Five

Scripture: Psalm 32:5-11

“I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you.” (Psalm 32:8-9)

  What makes someone teachable? Nothing more than the desire to learn. It takes a spirit of humility to acknowledge we don’t have it all figured out and never will. Our whole life long we need the steadying and guiding hand of the Lord. And the Lord often chooses to teach us the way we should go through others, through men and women who are just as imperfect as we are.

  Some of us can allow ourselves to be taught that addiction is a disease. Recreational drug use can and will, without warning, alter the chemical makeup of the brain. The addict no longer thinks as we do; in fact, in many ways he or she cannot. This does not absolve them of their destructive habits and the pain they cause to self and others. Acknowledging that addiction is a disease does not mean we give in to enabling behaviors. Instead, it makes it possible for us to feel compassion rather than judgment.

  Some of us can allow ourselves to hear and acknowledge we have a problem, that we are seeking freedom in substances that put us in chains. We can be taught that there is a better way, and that there is ONE who is stronger than the all-encompassing desire for the next drink or the next fix. This ONE is God, and the God who created you has the power to redeem you from all ills, to instruct you and lead you out of darkness and into life like you have never known.

  Let us pray for the humility to acknowledge that we have much to learn, whether we are an addict or clean. Let us pray for God to send each of us wise men and women to teach us in the way we should go, the way of love and life.

Alice Tondora, Contributor

Remember in Prayer: Ask that God might open the heart and mind of those seeking treatment for their addiction and allow them to accept God’s instruction.

Click Here PDF - Day Five Devotion

Informational Resources

  For information about prescription opioid misuse and heroin use, go to: www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/relationship-between-prescription-drug-abuse-heroin-use/introduction
  For information about cocaine, go to: www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/cocaine/what-cocaine