alcohol

damaging, dangerous

drains life away, drop by drop

I stand helpless

watching them

die.

I wrote those words as a child, but they are just as real and as painful to me today, as they were the day I wrote them. Perhaps you, too, have lost someone you love to addiction? Addiction is a living death. Your captive loved one is still alive technically, but actually already dead in many respects, as they are not able to live in the fullness and the richness of life that our Creator prepared just for us and designed us to enjoy. Instead, we sell our souls into the captivity of addiction and enter into a lifetime of slavery.

But there is hope, even for those appearing to be too far gone to be revived. That hope of rescue and restoration is in –

“the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.” (Romans 4:17)

This is good news! There is a Deliverer! Jesus said this –

“The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)

and in Isaiah I read this –

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners” (Isaiah 61:1)

captives set free – prisoners released from darkness – that’s good news! Alcohol holds many captive, but alcohol is not the only enslaver. New ones appear without warning even as we are busy doing battle with our old familiar captors. Fentanyl is a relatively recent, but very real enemy, a foe who fools its unsuspecting prey by not announcing its presence until it is too late.

And addiction is not the only enemy who holds us captive. Fear holds many people captive for a lifetime, while greed, envy and lies are also formidable foes who can hold us hostage indefinitely. Fortunately for us, we have a Deliverer who came to set us free from anything and everything that threatens to hold us captive.

To those who battle addiction He says –

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

To those who fight against fear –

“For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7)

“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ ” (Romans 8:15)

To the greedy, Jesus asks –

“What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

To those consumed by envy and worry about what others have that they don’t have, Jesus says –

“Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? . . . So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ . . . But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” (Matthew 6:27-34)

To those in bondage to lies, Jesus declares –

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)

Knowing Jesus sets me free because Jesus is the truth!

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’ ” (John 14:6)

Jesus came “to proclaim freedom for the captives” – that’s you and me, dear readers – Jesus came to set us captives free! I don’t have to live as a captive to alcohol, drugs, fear, greed, worry, envy, lies or anything else, ever again, because I know –

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)

You and I have our Heavenly Father’s promise –

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36)

from one liberated captive to any others out there –

sincerely, Grace Day