As humans, and as Christians, it can be easy to get into the habit of doing things. In fact, statistics show that it only takes about 21 consecutive days of doing something for it to become a habit. As we do our routine more and more, it becomes a habit. Think about your everyday life: you wake up, prepare for the day, go to work, come home, eat dinner, and go to bed – it’s that simple, that is a routine and a habit.
In our spiritual life, this is no different…
Go to church, repent, go back to our everyday life, and repeat the next week.
It can be easy to fall into the habit of repenting while you are at church, but somehow falling right back into the same sinful trap as soon as you leave. It is all part of the mask we tend to wear within the church – the mask of holiness and cleanliness. Rather than letting people know we are hurting and struggling, rather than asking them to help us, we want people to be under the impression that we are perfect.
Drug addiction is an ugly thing and one that nobody likes to talk about – especially the addict themselves.
It can poke its ugly head into our lives and destroy everything – families, friendships, and even jobs. So, this is why addicts like to keep quiet. It is as if by not telling anyone, nobody will ever know and therefore their relationships can’t be ruined. However, this is wrong.
The evil of addiction will continue to tear through you until it reaches the outside and until it starts affecting everything around you.
Many addicts struggle throughout the week, then go to church and uphold their image and composure, pray and ask God for forgiveness as the Spirit moves over them during worship, but come Monday morning, they are right back to their normal routine.
As Christians and individuals, they are just simply going through the motions. They are going through the motions of repenting to feel better, going through the motions of worshipping to uphold their image.
However, true freedom comes when you stop pretending and when you stop going through the motions. As an addict, hop off the “worship, addiction, repent, repeat” train and seek help and forgiveness. All too often people assume the skeletons in the closet will never come out, but unfortunately, they will. When they arrive unannounced, it will be much uglier.
Don’t continue to be lukewarm and repetitive, and fake. Don’t hide behind your addiction, as it is probably doing more damage than it would if you just came out and admitted you have a problem.