"Addiction is cunning....baffling.....powerful...........and patient."
The statement above comes from a section of the "Conquering Chemical Dependency" course I use to teach at Rapha. It seems as if this thing that drives people to make bad choices even when they know the outcome, is living thing. Well, you and I both know that the power that overtakes someone in addiction is found in our "old nature'...the nature that was born out of sin.
We delude ourselves into thinking that we are the captains of our life. We run the show. We don't need anyone else telling us what to do.....even God. When we reject the truth that God shows us about ourselves, we are smack dab in the middle of sin. You see, to me, sin is not the deed or action that we take...it is the heart motive that tells us we don't need God. That thing that controls our thoughts and desires. I have read it a gazillion times, but I have never found anything better than how the Apostle Paul says it in Romans 7.
Romans 7:15-20
I don't understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate. I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience shows that I agree that the law is good. But I can't help myself, because it is sin inside me that makes me do these evil things.
I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn, I can't make myself do right.
I want to, but I can't.
When I want to do good, I don't.
And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. But if I am doing what I don't want to do, I am not really the one doing it. The sin within me is doing it.
This sin nature is real....
It is the culprit at work in us that drives us toward bad decisions.
Every person born comes into this world with this nature at work in our lives.
If you don't believe me....
Get yourself a room full of 4 year old kids.
Put one toy in the middle of the room and watch what happens.
It will eventually become a battle to possess the one toy, and when it's over and one kid has the toy, what are they saying to the others? "Mine...Mine...It's my toy."
Now did we have to teach the kids to be greedy? No, we didn't.
It came natural through that old nature.
Truth is...all addiction begins with a choice.
We choose to do the wrong thing.
We may not consider the consequences of our actions, or we may even deceive ourselves into thinking that we will not become addicted, but we choose anyway.
There are several out there in the world peddling their remedies for those in addiction.
Take this and you'll be cured.
Try this and you'll never use again...
Come to our program and we'll set you on the right course....
Ah...but Jesus.
He promises something greater that sobriety.
Jesus promises that if you come to him, he will give you life....
Life abundant. Now in this abundance, you'll have sobriety, but there is so much more when you come to Jesus.
In the Romans passage, Paul was laying out his case in recognizing the power and effect that sin had on his life. Verse 24 and 25 is the solution to Paul's sin problem ( And ours)
"Oh what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin? Thank God! The answer is found in Jesus Christ our Lord.
So you see how it is. In my mind I really want to obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.
Sounds simple doesn't it? A turning of will and life over to Jesus.
It is simple.... sin complicates the obvious. Skews our perception and tells us what to believe. It makes a lie seem like truth and makes the truth seem like a fairy tale.
Don't fall for the lie.....
God on you..........
mbb
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