I was driving today past the MedPoint health facility on North Main Street in Mishawaka.  As I slowed to a halt, amidst construction and prior to a stoplight, I took a a breath from singing along with the local radio station and took a glance around.  Pulling out of the MedPoint parking lot was a seemingly darling elderly couple waiting on a break in the traffic so that they could pull their boat of an automobile onto the road.  My "darling" image of them was disturbed however, when I saw them each place a cigarette in their mouth and wait for their lighter plug to click, so that they could enjoy their smoke together.

I laughed out loud at the sight.  I could not believe that these people were leaving a facility designated to help them fix whatever problems smoking may have caused in their lives, and decided to celebrate by lighting up their fast track towards even worse health.  Look, I know smoking is addictive.  I lived with my dad, who smoked for years as I grew up.  I have aunts and uncles and grandparents that have struggled with the addiction to cigarettes over the course of time.  I would never seek to diminish the kind of stronghold it can be in life...but can we get real?!  Do we not have the will power to even let the doctors, nurses, and secretaries believe they've made a difference in our lives by waiting until halfway home to inhale some more tar?

The answer is no, and this answer extends into every realm of life.

The truth is, even Christ-following believers succumb to the same desires that smokers face when they look at their cigarettes.  Another truth is, even Christ-following believers succumb to those same desires even sooner than the couple I saw on North Main Street.  So often, we conversate with God in times of need.  We turn to Him and ask for deliverance from temptation, or removal from desperation.  Then, as soon as our time of prayer ends, we turn our face away from our Father and right back to the temptation we sought deliverance from.

This should not be so!  We are called to "put off the old self, and put on the new." (Colossians 3:9-10)  Addiction, lust, greed, idolatry, and impurity are all components of the OLD SELF!  The new self isn't caught up in the sins and addictions of this world.  The new self is like a former smoker or a recovering alcoholic, they stay as far away from the stuff as they possibly can. 

I wish I could find a way to better express this, but I'll go with what I have:

My mom is a nurse, and several times, I've spoken to her as she's left work and she's told me about a patient she's taken care of.  And though my mom has given everything she has to keep the patient alive and comfortable, I know my mom thinks to herself at times, "What's the point?  This person isn't going to change their ways."  I know that several doctors I've met over the course of my life have admitted to feeling the exact same way.  I can even envision the doctor of that couple looking at the window as they lit their cigarettes and shaking his head side to side.

My question is simple:  Would you ever want your God to feel that way?

Off with the old,
   On with the new,
      Bob Morton