Ever wonder why you have to wait for a loved one to
hit rock bottom before they can be helped? Why can’t our reaching out to that
person be enough for them to stop whatever they’re doing and straighten up? Many
rehabilitation facilities that stage interventions, require that family and
friends tell their loved one that they will cut off contact, meaning no more
help or assistance of any kind unless they stop their behavior. Most people see
this as just down right cruel and unloving and not what God would want because
He is all about love.
Those who think this way are wrong. In the Bible,
it specifically states that God will turn His back on you and your wicked ways
until you’ve changed and come back to Him. Let’s look at this verse:
Romans
1:28
28 And even as
they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things
which are not convenient;
God knows what it will take to bring you back. Sometimes the only
path back to Him is to be left to your own accord. The term reprobate in the
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines this word:
reprobate
noun
: a person who behaves in a morally
wrong way
Looking further in to this Bible passage, verses 29 – 32, it explains
exactly what God was talking about when he said a reprobate mind:
29 Being filled with all
unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of
envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30 Backbiters, haters of
God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to
parents,
31 Without understanding,
covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
32 Who knowing the judgment
of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the
same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
It’s stating
that God will leave you standing in the middle of the road without His
protection, because He will not tolerate this behavior. As humans, we feel the
need to save those who need help. You need to ask yourself, if God has turned
His back on this person, what makes us think we can be the ones to save them?
We can’t! It’s
very plain and simple. That person will have to hit rock bottom before God and
ONLY God can bring them back. If God left you standing in the middle of the
road, obviously you’ll have to be hit by numerous destructive cars before you go
running back to Him. Who are we to think that we can be the ones that save that
person? We’re not God.
It’s hard to
stop helping someone we truly love. In no way possible am I suggesting the first sign of trouble with a person, to
stop helping them, but if you’ve helped them repeatedly and there is no
progress, it’s time to let go and leave them to God. Pray that person will find
their way back. You are only hindering any type of progress God is trying to
make with this person by assuming the role of God, instead of allowing God to
do the work.
Of course, you will be subjected to all types of mental cruelty from
the person no longer receiving assistance. You will hear things such as, “everyone
has abandoned me”, “you don’t love me”, and the list can go on and on. Stay
strong and pray. Love that person but hate the things they do. Those that
continuously fuel their wayward ways are only empowering them to continue on
their destructive path. The holidays can be the worst time for this type of
power play to happen. Christmas will not change a person. Nothing will, except
their willingness to change.
Pray without ceasing.
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