Multi-Drug Urine Test Cup

I just recently ordered some more Multi-Drug Urine Test Cup’s. You see, when someone comes to the church asking for financial assistance, we drug test. As Christians, we always want to help those who are struggling, however, we cannot enable someone’s addiction

Sometimes the worst thing we can do for the addict is to say “yes” to them. Yes, believers are called to love everyone but loving an alcoholic or drug addict can look different. Most often, it looks drastically unlike their demands. Loving someone with an addiction often involves doing the opposite of what they want. It can involve doing the hardest things with the hope that these things will open the door of salvation for the addict. It is impossible to see God while they are an addict. Their addiction is their god, and thus has become an idol for them. Commandments one and two are clear. “You must not have any other god but me. You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea” (Exodus 20:3-4).

Sadly, an addict will do anything to serve that idol. The truth is pain is one of the great teachers in life. So, shielding someone, even a son, sister, daughter, or spouse from experiencing pain might be getting in the way of God’s work in them. It can actually be the worst thing for them. Think about it. God doesn’t always give us what we want. He gives us what we need. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “You parents – if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not” (Matthew 7:9-10)!

Jesus would never give any of His children something that He knew could hurt them. Like a snake. Neither should we. In Acts 3, Peter and John were at the Temple in Jerusalem for the three o’clock prayer service and were asked by a lame beggar for some money. This happens all the time here in Hartford. Peter replies, “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk” (Acts 3:6)! In other words, “Brother, you think that money is what you need. No. It is not. Jesus is what you need. If you accept Jesus, you can be healed!” And he was. In the next couple of verses, we read that the man “…jumped up, stood on his feet, and began to walk” (Acts 3:7-8)! The same would happen to an addict. If they truly accepted Jesus into their hearts, He would heal them. Jesus is so much more important than money to fund their next hit or bottle.   

Yes, we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves. In John 13:35, Jesus says, “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” However, giving a person with an addiction what they want is often the furthest thing from loving. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13, “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7). It does not say love enables.

So, when someone asks you for money. Think about it a while. Pray about it. Ask yourself, “What would Jesus do?” Is it loving to give them the money they need to buy more alcohol or drugs? I know there are those who say, “I give it with good intentions. What they spend it on is up to them.” Have you ever heard the road to hell is paved with good intentions? We know what they’re going to spend it on. We can pretend we don’t but we’re lying to ourselves. Trying to absolve ourselves of any culpability. James tells us, “Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it” (James 4:17). And sometimes what we ought to do is say, “No.” It’s harder to do but it is more loving.

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Remember you can email praises and petitions to southchurchprayer@gmail.com. I lift them up every Wednesday at 4:00 pm on Facebook Live.