“For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21).
Addictions today are on the increase. Why? The super saturation of our senses is part of it. We are bombarded with stimuli on television, the multimedia, wherever you turn. Addictions today include food, sex, cigarettes, computers, drugs, gambling, spending money, clothes, coffee and a wide range of possibilities your grandparents never faced.
So, we are victims—right? We just can’t help ourselves. Wrong. You got yourself into the addiction, and there is no magic cure, no chemical substance that disconnects your brain from your desire—at least not yet. Now, scientists are working on things which they hope will alter the chemistry of your brain, thus relieving addictions, but we’re a long ways from a cure.
How can you tell if you are addicted to something, even if it’s coffee? “You need to ask yourself some questions about your behavior,” says Dr. Jennifer Schneider, a specialist in addictive medicine”[1]. If you have tried to stop, and you can’t, in spite of the fact you know what you are doing is damaging your health, your job, your marriage, or your relationship with God, you are addicted.
Yes, of course, you tell yourself, “I can shut it off anytime.” You tell yourself you’re not hooked, but the reality is you don’t quit. You don’t stop what you are doing because you have become a slave to its power. But you do pursue your addiction when you don’t have to account to anyone. You drink in private. You switch to vodka with cranberry juice because nobody can smell it on your breath. You hit the porn sites on the web when your wife is at the store or sleeping. You binge on chocolate when somebody else is out of the house. “If you think you have a problem,” says one authority on addiction, “you probably do.” An addict, simply put, is someone who has lost control.
How do you break the power of an addiction?
Guideline #1: Admit that you are addicted. This is probably the most difficult task that confronts you. Saying, “I have a drinking problem” is different from saying, “I am an alcoholic!”
Guideline #2: Go public with your problem. No, it isn’t necessary to stand up in front of your church or business group and share your failure, but telling someone you trust what is happening in your life, being willing to be accountable to the same person, is like letting the dragon out of the dark closet.
Guideline #3: Confess your failure to the Lord and ask for His cleansing—His healing power to work in your life. At times, God instantly delivers someone from the clutches of drugs or alcohol, but usually He works through people who come alongside you and hold your arms when you are too weak to lift them yourself.
Guideline #4: Be accountable to someone. All addictions don’t require the help of a professional to stop them, but they do require more strength than you have, which is why you are powerless to break the addiction. Join a prayer group, a men’s fellowship, a small cell group where someone can look you in the eye and ask, “Are you clean? Have you stayed on the wagon? Have you hit any porn sites since I last saw you?”
Guideline #5: Take radical steps to break your bondage. Like what? Draw a line and step across it. Put a filter on your internet. Refuse to go anywhere alone where you might be tempted. Remember, the chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken without help.
But thank God, there’s help for the asking: be willing to take it.
Resource reading: Ephesians 3:13-21.
[1] (Ken McAlpine, “Escape the Addiction Trap,” Southwest Airlines Spirit, September, 2002, p. 109)
