Calling Things By Their Right Names

Let us not be deceived. We must not fall for the world’s euphemisms for sin. The world’s culture calls adultery an affair; it calls homosexuality an alternative lifestyle; it calls alcoholism a “disease.” We can’t go to our local liquor store and buy a six-pack of cancer, or leukemia. Simply put, alcoholism and drug addictions are the man-made coping mechanisms we use to deal with sin’s consequences and a life devoid of God’s life and peace. To not call it what it really is removes us from the true diagnosis as well as the true remedy.

I suppose all of our sins have some characteristics of a disease. After all the true meaning is “dis”-ease, or to not be at ease. But we should also remember that alcoholism, drug abuse, fornication, anger, murder, lying, stealing and overeating are not literal diseases; they are the attempts of our “adamic nature” to cope with sinfulness. They are the predictable behaviors of sinners separated from God who need to repent of living independent of God and receive God’s grace to live free and holy lives. We are without excuse. (See Romans 1:20; 2:1). If we want to be free, we must call sin what it is … SIN!

In our modern culture, some may struggle with the concept of two people of the same-sex who love each other being called sinful. Every one desires to love and be loved; that’s not sin. When they try to fulfill these needs in a way that goes against nature, biology and God’s order the Bibles says it is missing the mark of what God ordained. If God ordains one thing in nature we can be certain Satan desires to pervert it so people created in God’s image will do the opposite.

Remember, God is able to set us free. This means you and me! Freedom means we are willing to lose our old identification as an alcoholic or drug user. The world teaches us in their twelve-step programs to say “once an alcoholic … always an alcoholic.” But in God’s one-step program, the Bible says,

If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature, old things have passed, behold all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 

The key from this verse is: Do we want to be in Christ? You see Jesus isn’t a child molester, a thief, an alcoholic or a drug addict. If He is in us and we are in Him we will be transformed and we will certainly be free (Galatians 2:20)! The Gospel promises us access to the powerful and victorious life of the resurrected Jesus. As we daily grow and abide in Him and He in us, we bear much fruit and that fruit is sweet.

Excerpt from “You Can Be Free” – https://www.createspace.com/3560257