“Addiction” New Ways of Seeing and Walking Free – Part 13
“The unfolding of Your words gives life; it gives understanding to the simple.” (Psalm 119:130) We have been looking at how the Bible approaches addiction. The Bible’s approach is far superior to the world’s medical-biological approach which is not as wide and deep as the Bible’s explanation. The world completely discounts the role of the heart, the soul, the center of worship, desire, and longing: all of which define addiction. When battling addiction, or helping another Christian who is, it’s important to remember that sin is no longer our master. A weak or limited view of grace assumes that we have to pay God back for our sins. And when we swing in the opposite direction in thinking incorrectly about grace, we assume that being saved by God’s grace means that we are free to do whatever we want because “it’s all covered” by the blood of Christ. Here is a key principle in battling any sin that attempts to dominate us: we are either mastered by our desires or by Christ. We were bought out of slavery at the greatest cost possible: the death of Jesus Christ, the sinless, spotless, perfect, innocent Son of God. We were not set free by His death to serve ourselves, but to serve and love Him and the Living God, our Heavenly Father. The Apostle Paul said, “Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial to me. I will not be mastered by anything” (1 Corinthians 6:12). Our freedom in Christ is intended to lead us into more wholehearted service to Him, not into license to satisfy our own desires. Knowing our slant toward twisting God’s truth into something self-serving, the Apostle Paul reminds us that freedom can quickly drift into abuse and misuse, which in turn will lead us right back into slavery again. Though set free from the power of sin by the death of Christ, and though declared forever free by God, we choose to go on living like a slave. So what should we do? Paul says, “don’t be mastered by your sinful appetites.” Why? Because we have not been saved, rescued, and redeemed by Christ in order to pursue our own desires – which have the power to enslave us. Paul goes on to say, “You are not your own, you were bought with a price. Therefore, honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). We can fight with confidence against the powers of addiction because we understand that we belong to the Righteous One Jesus Christ; sin no longer has the right to tell us what to do as Christians. Then why do we still give in so easily to addictive temptations? The easy answer is because we want to; we choose to; we habituate our minds and bodies, training them to keep going back for “just one more,” even though we know it won’t satisfy. To be truthful, often we don’t feel like fighting; we take advantage of grace, knowing that we have been forgiven and so why bother to be worried about fighting? We must remind ourselves that the freedom and power we have in Christ not to sin does not mean that we will have a “heaven on earth.” Though we have been set free by Christ’s death, freed from the ownership of sin, the conglomerate of our sin nature, Satan, and the world wants us back! God has commanded us to fight. It is not an option to hit the “sanctified cruise control” until we get to heaven. The love of comfort and ease can be an impediment to seeing God’s goals accomplished in the battle against addiction. We must decide once and for all: 1) Who is my master? Is Christ, or are my desires? 2) Do I hate sin as much as God does? And if I don’t, am I willing to improve my understanding of grace until I do hate sin as God hates it? 3) Am I willing to learn how to fight against addiction in a way that pleases God and is according to the Bible? Am I willing to begin by taking simple steps and staying faithful? And am I willing to let other believers into my life, being transparent with them about my struggles and allowing them to hold me accountable for my actions and thoughts?
