My parents brought me up with a knowledge of the Gospel, but I lived a wayward life involved with drugs, alcohol, and illicit sex.
Four years ago, I accepted Christ as my Savior, but I have had relapses with those very things. I feel badly and I condemn myself for not maintaining holiness.
I have not used any drugs for over a year now. I want to be an authentic and trustworthy follower of Christ.
Dear Friend,
Thank you for your honesty. We understand that it is difficult to disclose your own shortcomings, but because you have, we believe that you are a sincere follower of Christ.
On the other hand, those who hide and deny their spiritual shortcomings are more likely to fall into hypocrisy. For that reason, we recommend that you have spiritual advisors who know about your struggles and are willing to help you in your spiritual journey.
Followers of Christ are not perfect. The Gospels reveal to us that Christ’s disciples, who lived and worked with Him every day during His earthly life, frequently failed to follow His example in attitude and action. Yet He chose them and walked with them in their journey, fully aware that they would never be perfect like He is.
The problem is sin. As human beings, we are born in sin. We inherited it from our ancestors, and it comes naturally to us. In spite of the fact that your parents were trying to teach you how to follow Christ, your human nature rebelled against their teachings and chose drugs, alcohol, and sex instead. No one had to teach you to do those things because your human nature was always pulling you in the wrong direction.
Every sincere follower of Christ struggles to overcome the temptation to sin. Whether or not they succeed depends on a number of things. Firstly, as we have already mentioned, it is critically important for you to find spiritually mature followers of Christ who know about your struggles and with whom you can be totally honest every time you give in to temptation.
Secondly, we recommend that you study the accounts recorded in the Bible and make note of each man or woman of God and what sins they committed. Almost all of the Bible heroes that you learned about as a child also had times when they weren’t so heroic. Adam disobeyed direct instruction, Abraham lied, Jacob deceived, Moses murdered, David the King lied and murdered, and we could go on and on… What made these flawed characters into people of God was the fact that they repented of their sins, received forgiveness from God, and then started over, trying to do better each time.
Lastly, we recommend that you stay away from places and people that tempt you. Make a plan to develop new relationships and habits, and spend so much time doing the right thing that you don’t have much opportunity to do the wrong thing.
We wish you well,
Linda