Irresistible Grace

So I was talking to my gay, recovering alcoholic coworker--something I've had lots of time to do over the past few months and have failed desperately to take advantage of. Today the talk didn't get as deep as it has in the past. He told me directly for the first time that he was gay. I think he was expecting me to be shocked because he knows who I am. "You know I'm gay, right?" He said to me. "I turned to him calmly and said, "Yep, you talk about it all the time." This was true. He does talk about it all the time. I think he thinks I'm very naive though. I didn't get too deeply into anything right then. I just let him know that it's wrong, but that doesn't mean that I think he's some sort of terrible person--at least anymore terrible than the rest of us. He just hasn't been touched by grace. Often though we do talk about his addictions. He's addicted to alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, sex, coffee among other things. He's working on the first two via AA and NA meetings. The third he tried quitting on Saturday. Yesterday he smoked three cigarettes in ten minutes. The fourth we don't really talk about all that much. And the last we don't really need to touch--that's a beautiful thing I tell him. Today I got thinking about his addictions. He's trying so hard to eliminate his desire for something. A thing all of us have tried to do at one point or another. But he's missed the point. And I think he's so close to understanding this. The key to overcoming an uncontrolled, unchecked desire is to replace it with something else--something worth desiring. Right now, God isn't worth desiring for him. He knows what he does is wrong. He's admitted it to me. He wants to change. But he doesn't want to do the one thing he knows will change him because he knows he'll have to give something up. Enter irresistible grace. This is the way I view the controversial subject: God looking so beautiful to us that we have no choice but to accept Him. Anyone in Christ knows how unfathomably beautiful He is, and we can't really comprehend being "out of Christ" when we realize that. Because of this, our desire for Him supersedes and eventually replaces our desire for anything else. We just don't throw out our old desires. We can't do that. We're flesh. Just like you can't stop thinking about something by saying you're not going to think about it anymore. Christ is to take the place. He is to become our "magnificent obsession" as the song says. So my coworker understands a few things. First, he's got some problems, and they are destroying his life. Second he can't get rid of these problems by any earthly means. Third, if he accepts the one thing he knows will ultimately give him victory, he has to give something up. So what is the bridge between counting the cost and actually making the step? Irresistible grace.