You may, if you were saved by the grace of God at an earlier, or young age, have some difficulty understanding the words in this letter, to others who were not so young they may be relevant to a degree, but only in part. To those of you who did not only live in the world, but thrived in it, who sought out as many sinful pleasures as possible, and who enjoyed nearly every one of them, to you this letter is written.
You will understand when I say that the lives we now live by the grace of God in Christ are the lives of a recovering addict, one who was addicted to the world. We reveled in the debauchery, the lust of the eyes, and the flesh (1 John 2:16) was where we made our bed, no remorse held us back from the next day’s adventure into sin, for we did not know, or care if it was sin, to us it was pleasure, and the times we hear the carnival call, the loud music, the reveling party was an an almost continuously beckoning call. The attitude of an ex-junkie, an ex-drunk, pornography, thief, name them all, without Christ can be a very slippery slope, the recidivism rate is very high, for the call only needs to be subtle for them to go back to their vomit as the Scriptures states. (Prov. 26:11)
Without Christ, the only true help they have is encouraging words, support in the form of mental assurance, many times by those who have also lived and slept in that dark alley or abandoned car. Without Christ it will make no difference if they fully forsake their past lives and become productive members of society or die in that alley. “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:7)
If you are the born-again believer that I am speaking of,I would ask you this, are you serving Christ because of what He did for you, pulling you out of that fire, (Jude 1:23) or simply because He is. That pull is still there at times, isn’t it? “Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.” (Prov. 23:31) When the lust of the flesh consumes you for those moments that sometimes turns into hours, or even days, when the transformed mind, (Romans 12:2) within you just wants to be conformed to this world again, because it was easier, because all of the sideways glances, words spoken behind your back and sometimes to your face didn’t matter, getting that next fix, no matter what your drug of choice was, the mind or the flesh, was all that mattered.
You know what saved by grace through faith means. The Lord did not just save you from the all-consuming fires of your desires, He saved you from certain death, and the second death as well. We know full well what these words mean when we see those who are still trapped as we once were, “There but for the grace of God go I.”
I know that there are many who mean well when they put their money towards organizations that are attempting to help people that are still trapped in that dark place, those who hand out blankets to the cold on the street, who try to talk to the junkie who sticks a needle in his arm or a straw up his nose or puts a pipe in his mouth several times a day, tries to assist those that the bottle has bit and who cannot bite back, but here is, as it has been said by a man much wiser than myself, where the “rubber hits the road.” You were there, you do not just understand what I have written here, you lived it, you wanted it, and at times, you still desire it, but most of all, you know that without Jesus Christ, even if you would have come out of that life without Him, there would still be no hope.
When the precious Savior pulled us out of that life, he came into the dark alley, he stepped on the needles, he smelled the stench of alcohol and vomit, and He still reached down to us and offered His hand.
Many who serve Him as Lord will never understand what we know as truth, now all you need to ask yourself is this, can you thank Him enough, can you even praise Him enough, can you show that love to those who are still there in that pit, and maintain the integrity that is inside you only by the power of the Holy Spirit. “Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” (Luke 7:47)
The pull is always going to be there, until we die, you and I both know that, some of our brothers and sisters in Christ cannot comprehend these truths, because they were not there, and all the books on these subjects will not avail them one bit when it comes time to speak to the smelly drunk covered in her own vomit. You can, you were there, now, can you speak to them of that grace, can you be the hand that reaches down to help them.
