Dear Friends,
Today I am going to write to you about the problem of addiction. It is destroying so many lives and families the world over that it becomes necessary to deal with it.
But before we talk about how addicts can get rid of their
addiction, it needs to be noted why, in the first instance, they take to
addiction at all.
People try to get joy and satisfaction from different
kinds of addiction – joy and satisfaction which they are not able to get from
anything else. In many cases, people try to find escape from their personal
reality through addiction. Also, there are many and many whose life lacks
substance – or content – that might lend purpose to their life. They try to
remove the feeling of emptiness by filling it with liquor or cigarettes or
drugs.
Initially, they do derive pleasure from their addiction.
But novelty wears out in nine days. This is true. Once a person gets addicted
to something, it directly affects his body’s metabolism. Once that happens, the
initial exoticism goes out of addiction and he is forced to do it out of sheer
necessity. If he tries to get rid of it, he starts suffering from withdrawal
symptoms.
It is good that an addict receives help from a
rehabilitation center. But as long as he is not having strong desire to get rid
of it, he is not going to respond positively to any medical and psychological
treatment he is subject to. Desire to be
free from addiction is indispensable.
Addiction not only harms mind, body and soul of
addicts, it also drains their financial resources. They need to think
conscientiously that millions of people in this world do not get sufficient
food two times a day. Reason? It is simply that they do not have money enough
to buy food. Millions of people go naked because they do not have money.
Millions of people spend their life on roadside because they do not have money.
You do have money but how you spend it? On buying liquor? Drugs? Cigarettes?
Dear Friends, God is a JUST God. He sees everything. If
you are an addict, this God, who loves the poor and destitute of the world,
also takes into account the bluntness of your sensitivity. Bible says,
“Why spend money on what is not bread,
And your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
And you will delight in the richest of fare.”
How true it is! Spend your money on the best of food
and drink; why spend money on addiction? The amount you spend on your addiction
would you spend for feeding the hungry and dressing the poor? Would you spend
that amount to help people who are really needy? You need to think about it.
And if you will not give your thoughts to it, God surely will. He WILL punish
you for your insensitivity.
However, I am not here to threaten you with retribution
that God brings on you for your addiction. I want to tell you that He values
your life and wants that you too value it. He is very much willing to help you
if you really want to be free from addiction. The Book of Isaiah, Chapter 55,
Verse 1 says:
“Come, all you who are thirsty,
Come to the waters;
And you who have no money,
Come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without cost.”
If you read this verse from the Bible, you may think
that Bible is self-contradictory. We are talking about getting rid of addiction
on one hand, on the other this biblical verse is asking the readers to buy wine
and milk! How to reconcile the opposites?
Dear friends, if you read this verse carefully, you
will not fail to notice that it makes an appeal to the people who do not have
money to buy wine and milk! How can people who don’t have money buy these
things? The same verse also contains the answer to this question. It says,
“Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” Does it not sound
strange?
How can a person ever buy anything without money –
anything that comes without a price tag attached to it? What comes free of
charge does not need to be bought! It’s that simple! And you know that wine and
milk do cost you something. Nobody will give you wine and milk free of charge!
The blood of Jesus is the wine that is completely
different from the wine that can be bought with money and used for addiction.
The blood of Jesus brings real peace and joy to those who thankfully accept His
supreme sacrifice. What our breweries produce, and what drugs induce in people
addicted to them, can never bring true peace and joy.
The reason behind this is that the liquor and drugs
that we purchase with our money destroy our mind, body and spirit. The use of
these is called addiction, and addiction is sin. Addiction is sin because it
defiles our body which is the temple of God.
Remember this: Sin can always bring temporary joy but
that joy does not last long. The moment the joy of committing sin is over, the
consequence of committing sin follows. Consequence of sin brings sorrow which
is not temporary but permanent. In other words, people who commit sin buy
permanent sorrow for temporary joy.
On the other hand, if we drink the blood of Jesus, it
means we accept the sacrifice that Jesus made of Himself for our sins.
Accepting the sacrifice that Jesus made for our sins means we do not have to
pay the price for the sins that we have committed. Jesus suffered the
consequences of our sins on our behalf. This is what frees us from our sins,
the sin of addiction included.
Freedom from sin makes us holy. Our achieving holiness
through Jesus is called ‘new birth’ in Bible. All who accept Jesus are ‘born
again’ in spiritual terms. From the time that we accept Jesus as our personal
Savior, our spiritual life starts. In other words, we are spiritual babies in
the spiritual world.
It simply means that we need to grow spiritually in
order to attain to spiritual maturity. For this purpose, Jesus gives us His
Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and instructs us from the
Bible so that we gradually increase in the knowledge of God, in the knowledge
of God’s purpose for our life. This is the kind of knowledge that helps us grow
spiritually towards maturity. This knowledge of God and His purpose for our
life and for the world at large is called ‘spiritual’ milk that spiritual babies
require.
Dear friends, as you can see, liquor and drugs destroy
us; whereas spiritual wine and spiritual milk give us abundant life. Spiritual
wine and spiritual milk also make our physical life reflect the changes that
take place in our spiritual life. That’s how all aspects of our life are
equally blessed.
Through Jesus you will be able to live a fruitful and
meaningful life. And, through Jesus you will receive such blessings that you
will be literally surprised by ever-increasing grace of God towards you. You
took to addiction because you wanted to find joy and peace through it. But once
you were confirmed in your addiction, you came to find that addiction deceived
you. It no longer sustains what you expect from it. But, rest assured, Jesus
will never disappoint you once you accept Him. Give Him chance in your life.
And, of course, do the following prayer:
O God Almighty and Gracious, Creator and Sustainer of
the creation, I come before Your throne of grace, in Your presence to request
You to save my life from getting destroyed by my addiction. Please help me
achieve freedom from my addiction to (liquor, drugs or whatever it is). It is
not only destroying my life but also hurting the life of my family. I try to be
free from addiction but I have become a slave to it.
O God, please strengthen me. Give me strong will power.
Help me overcome the withdrawal symptoms which force me to revert to addiction.
Please remove the withdrawal symptoms. Please free me from my addiction. I
commit my life to You this day. I shall live it in Your service if You free me
from my addiction.
I
believe You alone can help me. Therefore, please help me. Please bring me under
the protection of Your blood which You shed for such as me on the cross. Please
receive me in Your presence and give me Your peace and joy that I am striving
for. In Jesus’ mighty name I pray, Amen.
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