He lives in another country, but he and I had so much to share, to talk about.
He struggles with SSA, same-sex attraction.
He shared this struggle with me very openly when we began connecting on social media.
I then shared with him how the solution, the "break out" from this is to know the love of the Father.
This verse answers every addiction which plagues mankind:
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1 John 2:15)
Later on, he told me that he was seeing a counselor to deal with his SSA.
I was kind of upset when I heard that. Why seek a person when the Perfect Man at the Father's right hand has redeemed you from all sin, has taken you out of death and given you Himself?
"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:" (Ephesians 2:4-6)
I wanted to reproach him, ask him why he was still seeing a counselor after what I had shared with him a week ago.
Then I remembered how many times I have had to hear the Gospel of Grace, the true Gospel (Galatians 1:6), the truth which sets men free (John 8:32)
There is so much baggage in our lives, so many lies which we have held onto because we were taught so many false things, and never bothered to verify them, check them against the truth of God's Word. In many cases, there were so many things I used to believe, much like the laws and the frauds in Alcoholics Anonymous, which I had just accepted passively as Gospel Truth.
People cannot be taken right away from bad habits, or the emotional pains which come with trauma, hurt, loss, abuse from childhood or even adulthood. The grace of God goes slowly yet deeply into our hearts, not just changing our behaviors, but transforming our hearts and minds.
Abraham believed God's promises when he was 75 years old. He did not receive the fulfillment of this promise until he was 100 years old, when it would be all the grace of God and nothing to do with his own efforts. God was fully magnified, and His timing well-respected.
With this full understanding of how God's grace works in our lives, I understood that I had to give my friend a break.
If we see people looking at temporal solutions for deeper problems., the answer is not to tell them to give them up. The answer is to give them the deeper, eternal solution, and keep providing that solution to them!
The answer is to keep revealing, to keep sharing the love of the Father with them!
"No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." (John 1:18)
This same love, John practiced throughout his account of Jesus' ministry, too:
"23Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. 24Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. 25He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it? 26Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon." (John 13: 23-26)
We don't get better by getting rid of the bad.
It's not enough to tell people to stop doing certain things. Such advice doesn't help, but brings people into a tighter, more painful vise of pain and hurt.
Those who are suffering need something better. Whatever they are looking for, whatever they are searching for, that needs to be provided for them.
Man's greatest need is righteousness, and with that comes the unconditional love of the Father!
We get better when we receive more of the good!
It's the goodness of God that leads to repentance, after all! (Romans 2:4)
And it is the grace of God which teaches us to stay NO to sin and yes to godliness (Titus 2:11-14)
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