Those Who Refuse Help

Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Luke 5:32

Because I understand the misery of addiction, I daily pray for those I know to still be living in it. I know I can’t recovery for anyone else, but still, it’s difficult to watch those who so obviously need help, continually refuse to admit it. I’ve been there and I know what it’s like, but on the other side of recovery, knowing how good life can be, it’s hard to sit back and watch others refuse help.

Today’s passage provides some painful insight into those who don’t feel they require transformation. In the story, the Pharisees were offended that Christ socialized with tax collectors and sinners. In response, Jesus said that he came to heal those who were sick. He didn’t come for those who were already perfect. He simply had nothing to offer those who didn’t need anything.

Jesus satirically fed into the Pharisees belief that they were the righteous, and thus didn’t need him. As it turned out, they were more lost than the tax collectors. They just didn’t know it. The Pharisees didn’t think they required transformation and so, Jesus could do nothing for them.

In recovery myself now, it’s easy to look at those still addicted as the poor mistaken souls who feel they don’t need God. From today’s story though, the warning is clear: It’s often those who think they’ve found God who feel they don’t need him anymore. When I find myself thinking, I’m fine now. I require no further transformation, I become like the self-righteous Pharisees, no longer needing God.

The truth is, we all need God, all the time. In recovery, we need him as much as we did in our addiction.

Are you saying I’m always going to be sick and that I’ll never be healed? When we come to know God, we certainly are granted a new spiritual life and we do begin to change, but as long as we’re in this flesh, we’ll struggle with its flaws. We’ll continue to wrestle with pride, gluttony, lust, selfishness and greed as long as we live. We don’t have to live enslaved to those things, and God transforms us day by day, but we’re not going to be perfect in this life. So, if we want to know life, joy, and healing, we must continually accept our persistent need for God.