Addiction and Hope
We have all been in a pandemic beyond a virus. There is another pandemic that is going on beneath the surface that doesn’t get as much press or coverage or attention—the mental and emotional health pandemic.
“One out of two people are currently wrestling with mental and emotional health challenges.” Kaiser Foundation
What we are all going through is affecting each one of us at some level. None of us is exempt. We need to talk about this topic and not sweep it under the rug or pretend it is not a real issue.
There is hope and help from God, and from others such as counselors, that is available.
In this blog, I want to talk about one of those mental and emotional health challenges: Addiction.
Struggling with Addiction
“Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” Romans 6:16 (NIV)
Those words remind us that addiction means to be enslaved or bound to something. An addiction is powerful. It can take the strongest man or woman and control their will to the point where they feel hopeless and helpless.
Struggling with addiction can bring feelings of shame, regret, guilt, and hopelessness that haunt you for years.
Addictions Come in Many Forms
“Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.” 1 John 2:15-17 (NLT)
The Bible brilliantly boils our addictions into three main categories: pleasure, possessions, and pride.
Addictions can be most anything. There are things ranging from drugs to alcohol to pornography to emotional eating. Or accumulating shoes, houses, clothes, or being promiscuous. There are a large variety of addictions.
God’s Word and Addictions
The Bible points us to realize that addiction is how we try to solve a mental or emotional problem.
A problem arose in our life that we didn’t have a solution for, that we didn’t have a process in place, so we began to lean on something. The addiction allowed us to suspend or forget about the problems we were having.
Addiction is believing the lie: “God won’t, but this will.”
How Do We Find Healing?
We are all addicted to something. How do we find healing? Here are a couple of possibilities:
Identify it.
Name it. Look at it. Ask: is there anything in my life that I’m leaning on too much?
Invite someone in.
Addiction feeds on the idea that you are the only one going through this. Addiction brings shame and guilt because you are disappointed in yourself and realize you are not living the life God intends for you.
No matter what your addiction is, no matter what your struggle is, someone else is probably struggling, too. And they can relate to you. In church we must answer the call to provide support and guidance, to be the invaluable resource to bring God’s hope and healing.
As a church, we want you to know we are for you. You are not alone, and God can bring healing.
I don’t know anything God can’t do. God will work through His Spirit in powerful ways. God will work through His people to bring healing. You don’t have to do this alone. And then God will also use His Word, which is new and living and powerful every single day. Addiction will try to isolate us and keep us in shame. God’s Spirit and Word will constantly push us toward people and community. And then we begin to find healing.