Unshackled Moments ~ January 3, 2018 ~ It Takes More Than Resolve

California Lawmakers To Confront Sexual Misconduct Scandal, Iran's Top Leader Blames Protests On Meddling By "Enemies," 16 Hurt, 4 Seriously, In Bronx Fire, Trump Says Iran People Acting Against "Brutal" Regime, Deadly Bone-Chilling Cold Grips Wide Swath Of US, In unusual Step, Victims Told Of Destroyed Rape Kits, Slain Deputy's 4-year-old Comforts Mom, and the seemingly good news that Chicago Sees Drops In Homicides, Shootings In 2017. These are some of the headlines that greeted me this morning as I sat down at the computer. I read a few of the stories, and it turns out that the one that looked like good news, well, it is and isn't. Chicago did have fewer homicides and shootings last year, but there were still over 600 people killed, which is more than New Your City and Los Angeles had combined. And while it may be good that Fayetteville, NC police apologized to the over 300 women who had their rape kits thrown in the trash, it's heartbreaking to be reminded that all across the country unsolved rape kits are sitting unprocessed on shelves or, worse, are thrown away to make room for new ones. Before I wrote this or even completed all of my morning devotions I had to leave to go up to the jail to visit with a young man who I began ministering to a few years ago, while he sat in jail. Now, he's back inside and his little boy may lose his daddy for years.

It may be a new year, but it doesn't look much different than the past one. Things just don't seem to be changing, or when they do, it seems to be getting worse. I have too many friends running back to the old life. Relapses in others remind me that being set free doesn't mean you stay free if you turn to something other than Daddy when the pressure grows and life goes off the rails and out of control. While the world goes about trying to proclaim a fresh new start and chances to resolve to do things better, the brokenness of society continues unabated. Hearing a young man say this time he has to do it better and get it right for his son's sake doesn't encourage me. Instead it breaks my heart seeing that even now he is trying to determine, resolve and will himself into freedom and clean living. It doesn't work.

We can't make the world better by wishing it so. We can't make out lives better through resolutions. Sure, we can take steps in the right direction, but a zebra can't change its stripes, and a slave can't set himself free. We can't fix our broken mind with our mind. We can't set ourselves free or keep ourselves free. Sooner or later, the fear of negative consequences, the hopes for a better tomorrow, the experiences of the past are not sufficient to keep us from the first drink, dose, bite, bet, etc.

We have a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. It is finding relationship with the Daddy who made us and who loves us as we are, not as we should be, that sets us free. It is His love and power that heal us and makes us whole and changes us into new creations. He cares too much for us to leave us the mess He found us in and will restore us if we let Him. But if we do not choose to draw near to Him, to stay close to Him, to continue to seek Him and turn to Him as the answer to our needs, we will, not might, will, return to running our own life. Our wisdom, our experience, our determination will never be enough to keep us from selfish, foolish choices that lead to destruction. There is a way that seems right, really looks like a good idea, to us, but in the end only leads to death.

No matter if the headlines give us good news or bad, regardless of if things are going horribly awry or life is going great, if we feel hopeful or devastated by our circumstances,  we will never be enough to get right and stay right, to make the world loving and good, to walk away from destruction without returning, regardless of our resolutions. But also regardless of the situation, the One who set us free can keep us free. The One who made us able to love and live unselfishly can enable us to keep doing so. And when we do that by staying close to Him, surrendered to His will and turning to Him as the answer to our need and our refuge, then our lives become and stay worth living and our little piece of the world is a little brighter.

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