I was paying attention to the sermon yesterday. Really I was. David Platt was preaching Truth from Matthew 9:35-10:42, “Sent by the King.”
But in the listening, as he told each of us to go—to the diseased, the dying, the despised, the dirty—my mind wandered to Bobby (not his real name).
We had both been going—along with six or seven others—to the same Wednesday night Bible class. Bobby was a recovering addict. He was on the verge of six months of sobriety.
He was experiencing freedom in Christ, no more bondage to drugs and alcohol.
But Bobby was also nervous. Of that freedom. With his six-month graduation from his recovery program, he would go back into the real world. With more opportunities. And with more temptations.
I felt his burden heavy one Wednesday night in particular. As was our custom, we ended with a time of praying, each sharing with the Father and each other what was on our hearts.
Bobby was on mine. When my turn came, I prayed for him, verbalizing to God, to Bobby, and to myself that I cared. Many more had prayed for Bobby for years already.
That was that.
Bobby graduated and moved on. But when I asked about him several weeks later, I was told he had fallen off the wagon within days of being on his own.
What had happened to his resolve? His faith? Our prayers???
It was time to go again, to God, for Bobby.
More time passed. I saw him next at a graduation ceremony for one of his friends. He was fighting for his faith again. With the Lord’s help, Bobby did go back to God. It’s a cycle common to addicts (don’t we all relate?), but not one without hope.
We all—Bobby, you, me—are the diseased, the dying, the despised, the dirty, that Jesus goes to.
And he sends us out in turn to go to others.
But we never go alone. He goes with us...as he heals us and breathes life into us and loves us and cleans us up.
That’s good news. That’s the gospel. Jesus saves. All us recovering addicts.
We’re sent by the King to tell it to others.
Let’s go.
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Who is the King sending you to today?
