Turn To God - Turn Away From Sin

Last week I challenged you to start looking for a partner to help you deal with your addiction. This week we're going to start taking a look at what you need to do to find freedom.

Jeremiah 2:13 - My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

This verse points out two sins that we (like the Israelites) are guilty of when we begin to live a lifestyle that involves habitual sin (addiction). The first sin is that we turn away from God. This can happen because we do not believe that God can provide for us all that we need and desire. The second sin is that we turn to something other than God to find what we are looking for. We seek to fulfill our needs and desires through whatever it is we are addicted to.

There are many places in the Bible where we are provided with a two step program for dealing with our sin. One example is Isaiah 55:7 - "Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon." Each of the two steps (forsaking his way and turning to God) directly deals with one of the two sins mentioned in Jeremiah.

These two sins and these two steps are presented together because they are very strongly tied together. Our lifestyle of habitual sin involves both a physical aspect and a spiritual aspect, and both of those aspects must be dealt with simultaneously in order to find true freedom. Turning away from our sin involves dealing with the physical aspect, and turning to God involves dealing with the spiritual aspect.

Over the next two weeks we will go into more detail on the practicalities of carrying out these two steps. Over this next week, spend some time thinking about how you have turned away from God and what it is you have turned to in his place.