Perhaps you, Dear Reader, just checked this out for the first time out of curiosity or something, or perhaps you've been reading and listening for a while and are starting to think along these lines: Why am I bothering with recovery oriented ministry? I'm not an addict. Recovery isn't something I need to be focused on? But I don't believe in chance. I agree with Einstein and say coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous. I think there is a reason I feel I should do today's Moment on this and in this way, and I think there is a reason for each and every one who reads this to be doing so. Because we all need this freedom and grace, and yes, you are indeed an addict.
OK, now I've done it. I violated the rules. I declared someone else to be an addict. You're not supposed to do that. You're supposed to let people come to that conclusion on their own. But I can say that, the same as I can say that you are human. You don't like being called an addict? I can understand that. When people think addict they think drugs first. Then they usually acknowledge that alcoholism is just another addiction, and they may also include one or more of the other big ones....gambling, over eating, credit card spending, sex, or porn. But not everyone will agree on those or any others I left off. You'll hear things like you can't be addicted to such and such. That's not a real addiction. It's just a habit, and you just need a little more self control.
Because this is common thinking in regard to addiction, if you do not have an issue with one of the above, you may feel you don't need recovery, that you are not an addict. You may feel that even if you do some of these things but have not had certain major negative consequences that you don't qualify as addicted to it. And in that, you may be right. I am not saying that if you drink you are an alcoholic. There are some who can drink and not be enslaved by it. There are those who can bet a couple of bucks on a pony in a race and never come close to being in danger of losing their shirt, much less their house. Those may not be the issue, and that is my point. There is an issue, and just because we can look at the issues and chains of others and say that isn't me doesn't mean we're free and don't need grace.
So let me give a simple definition of addiction. An addiction is anything that we have done repeatedly with negative consequences that outweigh the benefits. Seriously, it comes down to something that simple. Those lines we draw in our own sand and then cross, even though we said we wouldn't. Those things we know we shouldn't do, have regretted doing in the past, say, even if only to ourselves, that we don't want to do but find ourselves doing anyway. Those things that it would be better for us and in our best interest to eliminate from our life, but we just can't seem to live without them. And when it really comes down to it, addictions are sin, anything that gets in the way of relationship with Daddy, that causes distance between us and Him, that can't be done while loving Him and others but that we can't stop doing.
Hey now, addiction isn't sin, it's a disease. It's not my fault. It's not socially acceptable to talk about sin these days. But no one said addiction isn't a disease. It is.
Disease: noun - a disorder of structure or function in a human, animal, or plant, especially one that produces specific signs or symptoms or that affects a specific location and is not simply a direct result of physical injury. synonyms: illness, sickness, ill health; More, a particular quality, habit, or disposition regarded as adversely affecting a person or group of people.
We were created for life and relationship with the One who created us. But, and no, it's not our fault, we were born with something wrong, something separating us from that purpose. The curse of sin caused an inherited spiritual deformity and created a God-shaped hole in our heart that we felt compelled, an overwhelming need, to fill. So, we tried to fill it. Each and every one of us have tried to fill that need. And everything we have tried to fill it with, and or continue to fill it with other than God is sin. It's the square that was never meant to go in that round hole. And any sin that separates us from Daddy that we repeat, even though we know we shouldn't or claim we don't want to is an addiction. If these is something in our lives that we call sin, that isn't of God and doesn't bring us closer to Him, that we can't stop doing, it's an addiction. And since we all have those things, every single human out there, I can say with all confidence and conviction that we are all addicts in need of recovery.
Even me. Being a minister doesn't exempt me or anyone else from this. I am still and active junkie. It's just my symptoms have changed. I have not drank or drugged in over 7 years, all praise to God who made that miracle possible, but the bondage of self, the sin of choosing my own will and way and disobedience over His will, way and obedience? Oh yeah, that I still struggle with that, still need grace to overcome, and will until I see Him as He is and become fully and completely what He created me to be. I am a self-junkie. A sin to slave. But I am also no longer that, because I am free in Him and because of Him. Because of Jesus and what He has done, I have the power, the chance, to do something I could never do before. Today, I can say no. Today I have a choice where I didn't have a choice before. I can choose to follow Jesus and obey. Not because of anything special about me or because I have gained some strength or ability I didn't use to have, but because of grace, because of His power that He freely gives.
And that's the great news that I have been taking so long to get to today. I don't know what controls you and holds you captive other than Jesus. I don't know if the opinions of others control you and yank your puppet strings, of if you are a slave to your anger or if fear pushes every button you have except the one that says run to Daddy or what it is that you can't stop doing that interferes with your relationship with Daddy. I don't know if you are close to Daddy and have made much progress and only have a few areas or things that only crop up from time to time or if you haven't yet been adopted into the family and are feeling the lash of your slave master almost constantly. What I do know is that it doesn't matter who you are or where you have been. There is hope! Captivity has been led captive and freedom is available to you and to me, right now and for all time! You don't have to earn it or deserve it. Jesus did everything that was necessary for you to fill that aching need, that God-shaped hole with what needs to fill it, the only thing that satisfies the craving and the need without leading to misery and slowly killing us, relationship with Daddy.
There is life available. There is freedom and the ability to say no to those stupid things that it would be better for us not to do but keep doing. We can actually stop crossing the lines we draw in the sand of our lives. Because God really does love us, as we are, not as we should be, and He loves us enough not to leave us the way we are. There is something in my life that wants to do it a different way, my way, even though it always eventually leads to pain and misery. Even though it hurts I keep finding myself doing it. There is at least one something like that in your life as well. What does the line in your sand look like? I don't know. But I know the solution. His name is Jesus, He loves you and the power He gives to say yes to life is freely available to you and to me right now. I hope you join me on the journey to know Him and become like Him.
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