Breaking the Power of Addictions
By Pastor Cornelis Kleyn
Bill was 60 years old and very addicted to alcohol and gambling. Every day he would spend all his money on his addictions. He regularly asked his wife for money too. For a while, she was honest and said that she had money, but was unwilling to give it because it fed his addictions. But when she said that, he became so angry that after a while she turned to lying about the situation. “No, I don’t have any money!”
As the situation dragged on, everyone in the family wanted it to end. They were sick of the lying, the angry outbursts, and the wasting of money. But what could they do? How could Bill actually overcome his addictions?
This is an important question when we are stuck in an addiction, whether that is substance abuse such as with alcohol and drugs like marijuana and betel nut or behavioural addictions such as pornography, gambling or even workaholism and media addictions. How do we overcome these harmful addictions and live a changed life?
Admit Your Sin
If you want to beat an addiction, you first have to understand that what you are doing is wrong. It is only when we see how the addiction is ruining us, ruining our family, ruining our community, and most importantly, ruining our relationship with God, that we can start to change. Admit you are wrong and say sorry! Repent to God, and say sorry to those you have hurt.
Get Help
But often that is not enough to beat an addiction that has lasted for a long time already. We need the help of others! And the best kind of help often has many aspects to it and could include the following:
- Seeing a medical doctor
- Seeing your local pastor
- Involving your family and friends who will help you
- Involving the church community to help you
- Prayer
- Talking to a counselor
- Joining a group that deals with the particular addiction you have (eg. AA for alcoholics)
Most of all, we need to understand what the prophet Jeremiah said, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jeremiah 17:9). We need the help of God to overcome our addiction.
Most of all, we need to understand what the prophet Jeremiah said, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jeremiah 17:9). We need the help of God to overcome our addiction.
Change Your Life
When we work to get rid of addictions, we also need to put something in its place. We must not only “throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception,” we also need to “put on your new nature, created to be like God – truly righteous and holy” (Ephesians 4:22-23).
When the urge to engage in the addiction comes up, we need to learn to say: “STOP!” and then do something that is helpful instead. Smokers have sometimes said chewing gum can be a helpful replacement for a while. For those with alcohol and substance addictions certain foods may be helpful, whereas for behaviour addictions, doing something else may work.
Avoid Temptation
Another aspect of this is avoiding tempting situations. The Bible tells us to “flee from temptations”. Gamblers should avoid gambling corners, those addicted to pornography should avoid media usage or do it only in a public area, and alcoholics are best off avoiding people that encourage them to drink or places like parties that encourage the bad habit.
Good habits need to be developed to replace old bad ones. For example, addiction to TV and media can happen because we find it hard to talk to people. We can learn good conversation starters and learn to start talking more with different kinds of people. Some addictions can also come because we don’t deal well with stress and problems in our lives. And so, we need to learn stress management skills such as taking time out, relaxing, exercise and sharing the burdens we have with others. This needs to happen also so that we don’t fall back into old habits again. Although relapses into the addiction are common, by God’s grace we can begin to do what is right and overcome wrong.
Serve the Lord
The best thing that we can do to fight the temptation of addiction is to be busy with the Lord, His work, and His ways. Wake up in the morning and start with God’s Word and prayer. Then make a plan: how am I going to serve God today? Keep yourself busy with good things. Work is one of God’s remedies for addiction (Proverbs 23:19-21). Is there a time that you particularly struggle? Then make other plans for that time: visit with a mature Christian, make a meal for someone who is sick, visit someone who is lonely, volunteer to cut the grass or trim the flowers at your church. Throughout the day, pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Then, at the end of the day, reflect on God’s Word again, count your blessings and thank God for them, and then get a good night’s sleep so you can devote yourself to God again tomorrow.
How God Rescued Bill
Bill was seriously addicted to alcohol and gambling. He spent all the money he received on these addictive habits and frustrated his family to no end. Finally, his wife had enough. She thought the only way Bill could overcome his lifestyle was if he got seriously ill and thought he was going to die. He is not ready to face his Judge! So she and one of her sons actually prayed, “Lord make Bill sick, seriously sick so that he realizes he needs to stop his addictive lifestyle! So that he sees that his life is empty and meaningless without You!”
The Lord answered that prayer. Bill got seriously sick for several months. The doctor told him that he was not allowed to drink and because he was bed ridden, he also was unable to gamble. Bill thought he was going to die and turned to the Lord in his time of need. Today Bill sits in church and his wife says again and again with a smile, “He is a changed man!”
To the Christians who struggle with addictions: remember that at the end of the day it is the grace of God that allows us to change and to remain changed (Titus 2:11-14)! For if Jesus the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!