If you had to choose one — and you do — which would you choose?

In more than three decades of pastoring and clinical counseling, I’ve never had someone come into my office and say something like …

“You know those negative habitual behaviors I used to have that were destroying my marriage? I’d like to get them back again …”

“Do you remember all those fears I used to have? Could you help me get them back?”

Or …

“Do you remember all the shame and guilt that used to paralyze me? I miss them and would like to recover them …”

Usually, once we are freed of what has enslaved us previously, we don’t want to go back. But, as odd as it may sound, it’s not uncommon for us to return to the scene of our sin, our hurt, our brokenness …

“As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness,” Proverbs 26:11.

It’s not uncommon for us to wander back to bad influences, bad habits, and bad desires, only to once again find ourselves enslaved and broken.

Like the woman who continues to put herself in abusive relationships …

Or returning to junk food and “comfort” eating after a hard fought battle to lose 60 pounds …

Like treating your children the negative way your parents treated you …

And like routinely making promises to God, only to return to your sinful ways after God has mercy on you to get you through your circumstances.

What an ugly way to live!

There is a better way, and this is it:

“So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free,” John 8:36.

By surrendering your entire life to Jesus Christ, you can be set free from the sins that enslave you. You can have a new nature and live as God’s very own adopted child.

Which do you choose: a life of returning to your vomit, or freedom in and through Jesus Christ?

Scotty