“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23
While reading through the Bible there is the reoccurrence of a theme that we should keep in mind every time we open the Word. God is not hesitant to point out the diseases humankind faces, but as is the nature of a loving God, He just as quickly points out the cures. In the greatest example, God, through men with pens, has warned us of the poison called sin that pulses through each of us. God, through those same men, has revealed to us the antidote- Jesus.
This pattern is seen in almost every one of the New Testament books. God says, “Don’t do this (because it is injurious to us), but do this (because it is beneficial to us). A wonderful example can be found in Ephesians 5. Verse 17 says, “So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is,” and 18 says, “And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless actions, but be filled by the Spirit.” Paul tells us what we should not do, but does not leave it there. He tells us what we should do instead. Every “don’t do” in the Word is followed by a “but do” and He gives us the power to do it.
Paul understands, through the Holy Spirit, that just pointing out what we should not do leaves a void that needs to be filled with something. Not long ago I heard a phrase regarding parenting. A child psychologist said to a group of parents, “if you don’t train up your child, someone else will.” What that means is that if we take something away, it will be filled with something else, but that something else isn’t always good. That’s why Paul does not just say, “Don’t be filled with spirits” and stop there, but goes on to say that we should be filled with the Holy Spirit instead.
It is said if someone quits smoking he needs to do something to fill the void left. When my dad quit smoking in 1969 he had to have something to replace the three packs a day that he smoked every day. He had to have something that replaced the nicotine, 
the smell, the movement of hand to lips, and a host of other habits. There weren’t enough packs of gum, nicotine patches, or suckers that could replace that thirty-year habit. He replaced the habit with prayer. He said he prayed non-stop all the way from Portland (where he smoked his last cigarette) to Grants Pass (where he died over forty years later). He said that after that day in 1969 he never craved a cigarette again. No nicotine patch for him- he put on a prayer patch instead. God always supplies the alternatives if we want to use them.
In Ephesians 4:31-32 Paul tells us “to put away every kind of bitterness, anger, wrath, quarreling, and evil, slanderous talk. and instead, be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you.” We cannot just put away the bad and stop there. We must put on the good, as well. If we don’t, the bad will return; the vacuum will be filled; the old nature will step back on the throne.
The other day in my B
ible reading Abraham was called to make a sacrifice and his son was laid upon the altar. When the time came for the sacrifice, God didn’t say, “Nevermind, Abraham. You proved yourself. Untie Isaac and go home.” No, God filled the void that was left on altar with a ram caught in a thicket. If God asks us to give up something, he will graciously provide a better alternative.
The Bible is a book of answers. To be otherwise would show a merciless God who has penned a medical book that lists diseases without the cures. But our God is merciful and prefers instruction to destruction. The Bible is the greatest book ever written and describes the human dilemmas more honestly than any other. Fortunately for us, it is also the book that outlines how to deal with those dilemmas. So when God directs us away from something, He always directs us toward something else. That is what a good God does; that is why we can say we have a good God.
Have a Great Day.