What do you Seek? John 1:38

 The epidemic of drug use has, and I believe will, always be a problem.  For years our nation has sought to incarcerate before heal, further spreading the problem.  It is through drug use that our country – our world – is losing men and women, good men and women who might otherwise have been successful people.

It was through drug addiction that I decided to hang out with my “buddies” and smoke pot rather than work hard and go to college. It was through drug use that I became antisocial and refused to build relationships or sustain them. It was through drug use that I watched as every dime I ever made went up in smoke – literally. And it was through drug use that I blindly went about creating victims out of my friends, family and ultimately my community.

So I write this with not only a strong desire to stop the cycle of drug abuse but a fervent zealousness to pluck those I see caught in the madness that is drug addiction away from its grip. For me it nearly cost me everything. My parents, I’m sure, were on their last round of forgiveness; or at least should have been. My family only sat around shaking their heads at the mention of my name. You know the look, they let out a sigh and stare at the ground, every one suddenly gets quite. My friends were in shock at the waste of talent. And don’t get me started with what law enforcement thought of it.  It is in looking back that I am able to strive forward, ever wanting to see our world changed.

But this isn’t merely an issue of drugs. This problem we all know personally is spiritual. It is not in drug addiction itself that is a problem. The true culprit is in a relationship – or rather, a lack there of. We as Christians know this, when we have no sustaining relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, our lives have a hole, a void that must be filled. So we stuff the hole with drugs, or alcohol, or stuff, or ego, or vanity, or cheesecake. But as Augustine said, “Man will have no rest until he finds rest in You.”

Paul said he has, “Become all things to all people.” Not meaning he is two-faced, fake or a hypocrite but rather, he speaks to everyone on their level. He goes and talks with the Roman at a sporting event just like he goes into the synagogue to speak with the Jew. He was imitating the Lord who , when He encountered others, met them right where they were.  Paul did this because the issue is not drug addiction, anger, pride, or vanity, it is a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ , or, again, the lack there of.

Drug addiction will continue to rear its ugly head for as long as men and women are outside of a relationship with God. It will go on for as long as our broken judicial system perpetuates the revolving door like cycle of incarceration. It will go on as long as people ignore it and refuse to acknowledge that it is a problem. It will go on as long as moral deprived celebrities write songs about how cool it is. And it will go on as long as we continue to run in circles addressing every issue but the one that is the answer: Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, “Come to me all you who are weak and weary, and I will give you rest.” I believe that. I believe that to be the world’s answer. Do you? In the chasing after of whatever (you fill in the blank) do you find what you want? I guess it’s relevant that I mention this: one of the very first questions Jesus posed to the world was this one, “What do you seek?” (John 1:38)