One of the first things Jesus did to begin His ministry was to proclaim liberty to the captives. Very little can describe an addiction better than being a captive of that addiction. Let’s cut straight to the brass tacks here: every single one of us has addictions. There is something our physical body or our mind is enslaved to that is not Jesus Christ. Some have it more blatantly and more obviously than others. Some can’t hide it; some are masters at hiding it. But every one of us has our addictions that we face, and Jesus came to set us free from them.
There are plain and obvious addictions, such as drugs and alcohol. Pornography is finally being recognized as a serious issue. Tobacco, smoking, etc. are also on the list. Once someone gets on the drug, they cannot get off, and if they do, they literally go through a withdrawal phase. David Wilkerson started Teen Challenge to help teenagers get off drugs and off the streets and get them real help. His biography The Cross and the Switchblade gives quite a few details about what goes on with a drug addict. Most of us know or have heard about the problem with alcoholism and how that drink so controls a person, like the town drunk who repeatedly and regularly makes a fool of himself. Josh McDowell was the son of the town drunk where he grew up, and that combined with the oft-repeated sexual abuse he endured by a farmhand drove him to bitter hatred against God. Yet, God redeemed him and saved him and his father.
Pornography deserves its own category because it is so severe today. Pornography is much more than looking at naked women. It is more than watching videos of people having sex. It is more than homosexual porn. It is more than looking at the extreme stuff. It is more than looking at naked children or watching adults do evil things to them or forcing them to do the evil deeds themselves. It also includes masturbation and getting yourself “excited” without involving another person physically. The physical acts of watching this stuff are so rampant that if you can find an honest person who has not struggled with this, you truly found a rare gem. But many people can control the opening of a browser window, the flipping through a magazine, or the reading of graphic accounts. It is what goes on in the head that is even more sinister. Many call it “fantasy porn.” It is what the imagination does in between those viewings. I remember hearing a mom catching her 10-year-old son having found such videos on his phone’s history. It started as innocent searching and then he found the dark stuff, and he cried to his mom saying he could not get those images out of his head. It is truly addicting, and it does not go away.
There are other addictions too that are less notorious because they are not inherently evil. Sports is one. Someone addicted to following a certain team is always looking at how that team is doing at any chance they get; they are always looking at the latest talk and updates, especially when their team is doing well. Video games and reading can be additions to the point where one cannot think or process without playing the next game or reading the next book. Binge-watching falls under this category, too.
Some addictions include family. There are some people, parents, grandparents, in-laws, etc. that have an addiction to knowing every little thing going on in the family and then being the solution. Some addictions include work or your job. Many people do not know when to take a break and they do not know when to say no. They become absentee parents because they are working well beyond their kids’ waking hours. Even sleep can be an addiction, telling the body when it is supposed to get up before what is natural.
There is one addiction that has only been identified scientifically just recently: dopamine, the biochemical that gives us “pleasure.” The Bible calls it the lust of the flesh. ALL addictions can be grouped together in this category. It is the search for pleasure, or at least started that way, and even when one tries to stop it, the brain, body, and mind demand that which is pleasurable. This was part of what Eve saw in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. She saw the fruit as being pleasurable for eating. She was going to defy God and enjoy every minute of it – or so she thought. And ever since, she and Adam and mankind have had a desperate craving for pleasure, comfort, and the things that God promises, but not in God’s form, His timing, or even His distribution of them. Every single one of these addictions, even with things that are not sinful, are chains that will weigh us down and rob us of the true riches that God has for us.
Jesus came to break the chains of addictions. He came so that we may be freed from seeking our satisfaction in all these temporary things that only last for a moment. The creations of man can be used correctly, in moderation, or not used at all. There is a place for the use of the right drugs and even alcohol. Paul told Timothy to drink some wine from time to time to deal with his health issues. There is a place for sexuality, in the proper context of the marriage bed, and seeing the spouse in their glory instead of as toys of pleasure. There is a place for sports, work, sleep, hobbies, activities, family, etc. There is pleasure that can be acquired from them, but they are not our sustenance; Jesus is. When Jesus is our sustenance, we can truly enjoy those good activities. One of my friends, Steve Lillis, is a professional pool trick shot artist, and there was a season in his life when he compromised his faith and chased after fame and fortune, obsessed with pool. Then God broke him, and he literally laid down his cue stick, giving up the game so he could serve Christ. He never plaid again for 12 years until God gave him an opportunity to start using the sport to preach the Gospel. He and I connected very quickly because I did the same thing with fencing, and he founded his ministry on the exact same day I started fencing. So again, there are many addictions that are not sinful, but they can be if they get in the way of Jesus.
Jesus came to break us free from addictions so we can get our true pleasure from Him. As with any addiction, to break the habit, one must not only cease that activity, but he must also replace it with something else. Sadly, so many of us cease our activity with God and replace Him with something far less than. But the Gospel is for those who are addicted to the things of this world and to sinful pleasures – breaking those chains and giving them a much better source: Jesus Christ who truly can sustain all our needs. Jesus came to break the chains of the enslaved, but the enslaved need to recognize that they are indeed slaves and need to be rescued. And when the chains are broken and the door is open, we need to walk out and live the life of liberty. So few do that because the life of slavery is known and comfortable; a life of freedom otherwise is strange, foreign, and scary. But Jesus is a good master and all we need to do is put our trust in Him, and He will give us what we need for this life.
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