The Journey of the ProdigalShembull

Trying Harder

Luke 15:16 -  “He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.”

When you go to the world to rid your spirit, soul, and body of the attraction to addiction, things can get harder. Our prodigal thought, I’ll get a job, start solving my problems, get rid of my guilt, and utilize secular culture and godless solutions to get it done. 

It got worse. Though he had no job and was hungry before, now he was working all day in the heat and was still hungry. What he thought was a solution became another rip off. He was trying to fix an external problem but the disease of addiction, spiritual separation, and immaturity are internal problems solved by work and relationships.

Some of us have stories of trying harder before real recovery occurred in our lives. To try to stop our addictive behaviors and relationships, we went to doctors, counselors, and support groups, or turned to alternative medicine, New Age solutions, and good old self-will.