MT 9:10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and `sinners'?"

MT 9:12 On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: `I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Most of us who have struggled with an addiction have had to wear it like a badge of shame but we must understand that in most cases it is our very weaknesses, pain, and shortcomings that end up leading us to God in the end to receive His help. We would like to think that we would just come to God out of a desire to know Him, but for many of us we usually cry out to God only because we are facing an impossible situation and we desperately need Him to step in and help us. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but rather a good thing. I would much rather go to heaven because of an impossible addiction problem, rather than to go to hell with no problems in my life.

LK 7:47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven--for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."

Another benefit that comes from living with an addiction problem and receiving God's help and mercy is that we are normally more humble, loving, and compassionate toward others who are struggling as we were. People that have never really faltered in life tend to be more prideful and judgmental toward other people with more of a problem in some area than they have. If you have ever overdosed, been hospitalized or incarcerated, lost your family friends or job, or went through terrible withdrawals or consequences because of your addiction, then you know how painful and humiliating these things can be, and rather than condemning someone who is going through it you are more likely to love and help them. Addiction makes us sick in just about every way possible and the only Doctor around that can really help us is Jesus Christ.

LK 18:9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: `God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

LK 18:13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, `God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

LK 18:14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

I want to encourage you today that the very addiction that has been your stumbling block can one day be turned into a stepping stone to help other people find God's help. We live in a world that is experiencing an epidemic of addiction right now and who do you think God wants to use to help them? That's right, someone that He has helped to get free from it just like you. Not only can you share your experience with them to give them hope, but you can also pray for them and see God do great miracles in their lives to set them free. So my friend, just remember that God knew exactly what it would take to lead you to Him and even through you may have struggled with a terrible addiction in life, God can bring good out of it by not only setting you free, but also by saving you and using you to go and to help others.

MT 19:26 Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."