A modern day adult 'Time Out' for people who fall into addictions is to
“Go To Rehab” after which spending tens of thousands of dollars and
dutifully sticking with counseling, support groups, and abstention from the demons that had plagued them
they’ll hopefully will emerge as restored individuals ready to re-engage with life.
This modern day Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card is just the ticket for the rich and famous to pay their
pentinence for whatever fault that has soiled them to their friends or the public, after which
all then is seemingly forgotten.
However by definition, rehabilitation simply means bring something back to what it once was,
and as today’s scripture verse points out, that person simply returns to where they were.
While the behavior may be on hiatus, the HABIT is still there.
While rehab is a step in the right direction, it doesn’t eradicate the problem.
What is needed is not a change in behavior but a TRANSFORMATION, and like Isaiah’s scripture says,
that can only happen by forsaking one’s ways. The question is, 'How DO You Do THAT?!?'
and the answer is a much deeper lasting change.
You see, when we repent from our sins, the root meaning of that word in the original Biblical
language means that we have a CHANGE OF MIND AND AGREE WITH GOD. It has nothing to do with will power,
training or taming old habits but is a foundational transformation of who we are, how we think and a true change of heart
about that which had ensnared us. While rehab cleans off the surface dirt and gives (sometimes a literal)
spa day to the PERSON, repentance is the implant of a new heart and a transformation of the SOUL by casting off
“...those sins which so readily ensnare us” (Hebrews 12:1) and being united with God in His Spirit.
Friend, if you are battling with destructive habits, Don’t Rehabilitate,
but Restorate Thorough Repentance.
Not only will it redeem your life, but even more importantly it will redeem your soul and give you
the PARDON that will bring lasting freedom that cannot be found any other way.
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