HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 22
page A20
Addiction See also Desires; Guilt; Lust; Temptation
Who in his right mind would volunteer to become a slave, chained to a life of bondage?
Yet that’s just what addiction is: self-imposed slavery, selling oneself into bondage to
habit or a substance. While we typically think of addiction as a problem related to drugs
or alcohol, there are other addictions that can also be destructive. We may become
addicted to work, addicted to gambling, or addicted to pornography. We all have our
addictions, whether they are “minor” bad habits or dangerous dependencies. One thing
we are all dangerously addicted to is sin. When it comes to rejecting God’s way of living
and doing what seems best to us—well, we are hooked.
So how do we break the chains of our sin addiction? Ironically, it is by submitting to
the control of God and his Holy Spirit. We are still controlled, but his control is always for
our benefit and health, not our destruction. God’s transforming power is the only thing
that can ultimately heal us from all addictions.
Can addiction involve more than substance abuse?
• 2 P E T E R 2 :1 9 | [These false teachers] promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of
sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. (See note on page 1136.)
The key to addiction is control. What controls you? Whenever we have a master,
we are slaves. Addiction is relinquishing ourselves to the control of something or
someone else.
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• R O MA NS 3 :2 3 | For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
• C O L O S S I A NS 1 :2 2 | You are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single
fault.
HelpFinder
• 1 C O R I NT H I A NS 6 :1 1 | But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right
with God.
Sin is the most deeply ingrained addiction of every human being. You can’t go to a
clinic to overcome sin once and for all. But you can go to a person—Jesus Christ, the
Son of God—to help you resist the sin in your life and to completely forgive what’s left.
When he forgives you, he looks at you as though you have never sinned, and when
your life on earth is over, he will give you eternal life where you will be forever free
from sin.
• R O MA NS 8 :5 , 7 | Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things.
. . . For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it
never will.
You can be addicted to your own sinful nature, which can dominate your thoughts and
actions.
• MAT T H E W 1 9 :2 1 -2 2 | Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your
possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then
come, follow me.” But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had
many possessions.
Possessions can be addictive.
• R O MA NS 1 :2 6 -2 7 | That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the
women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each
other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with
lust for each other.
Sexual perversions can be addictive.
• PR O V E R B S 2 1 :1 7 | Those who love pleasure become poor; those who love wine and luxury
will never be rich.
Pleasure, a luxurious lifestyle, and wealth can be addictive.
• PSA L M 3 9 :6 | All our busy rushing ends in nothing.
• MA R K 6 :3 1 | Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.”
Work can be addictive. Make sure you find time to rest and refresh your body and spirit.