When I was struggling in the final death throws of Celebrate Recovery.
Constantly, I was reaching out to this one old man, Mark, who acted as if he had all the answers.
He was an arrogant pervert, and totally committed to the self-righteous celebrate recovery program.
I have heard this sermon preached a number of times, and I cannot run away from it. There are some people out there who want to give bits and pieces of information, but the insist on making individuals keep on coming back to them.
That is evil.
God has invited us to come to him, to the throne of grace in our times of need (Hebrews 4: 16). He has not told us to run to other people.
He invites us to cast our cares upon Him, because He cares for us.
Yet in so many churches, and in so many of these Recovery programs, they give the impression that we are supposed to cast our cares on our pastor or other church people.
Excuse me?
At any rate, this Mark creature was a really frustrating piece of fraud.
I have no nice way to write about it. He never gave me the revelation of God's love for me, but instead hammered me with what I had to be doing for God.
One of the best days in my life was when I stopped taking his phone calls. He called one time, I did not answer, and then he never called me again.
This past week, though, I was reminded of the one piece of "advice" I would get from him time and again.
When I was frustrated and hurt, when all was lost, and when I was so angry and put out, he would tell me
"Keep going."
Keep striving, keep working hard, keep trying.
No. I had done all of that for so long, and nothing had come of it. Time and again, my life would get better every time that I read more of God's Word and put my trust in Him.
"Keep going."
The fisherman had toiled all night, and yet the found nothing. When Jesus told them to let down their nets, then they obeyed, albeit not perfectly --- because they only let down their net.
They could not take in the load of fish, the catch was so great.
Also, when Jesus' disciples had toiled all night in their boat, then they saw Jesus. They had strived for so long to get where they were going.
Things changed when they willingly received him into their boat, and immediately they arrived where they were going. (John 6: 21)
Jesus did not say to the fishers, or to his disciples: "Keep going. Keep trying."
In fact, He says to all of us:
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11: 28)
Not "keep going", but "come to me."
God our Father invites us to come to Him with all our cares.
We can trust that He cares for us, because He gave His Word -- literally!
So, like many things, Mark was totally wrong. He had taught me to run to him for all my answers, even when he would say "Don't ask me. Because if I tell you, and it's wrong, then you will blame me. If I tell you something, and you say that it's right, then you will think it was me."
He should have been leading me to receive the wisdom and insight of the Holy Spirit into my life.
"Keep going" was the best that Mark could do, because like many Christians, he had embraced the way of Cain, trusting his efforts, keeping short accounts, even though he walked and talked perversion to a great deal.
No. That is wrong.
You do not keep going. If you are in pain, if you are confused, you ask for wisdom from God.
Christ is made to us wisdom first, is He not? (1 Corinthians 1: 30)
He has given us His Word, and the answers that we are need are there.
We do not keep doing what we are doing, if what we are doing is not working.
What we need is something better. What we need is to see more of Jesus.
What we need to do is grow in grace:
"But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen." (2 Peter 3: 18)
Say "Amen" to growing in grace and knowledge of the Lord. If you do not know where you are going, or if you find yourself frustrated with the setbacks that you face every day, see more of Jesus, gain more of His grace in your life today!
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