Addiction

I’ve been thinking a good bit lately about addiction. What is it? Especially in the realm of drugs and sometimes alcohol and many times sex people- I might even say some sects of Christianity- just don’t get it. We think we are immune. We think that we aren’t addicted to anything. If we do admit to some sort of addiction it something we label as benign. “I’m addicted to chocolate.” “I love ice cream. Especially Breyers. It’s my addiction!”

The first Google search of the word “addicted” brings up the following definition: 
To be addicted is to be “physically and mentally dependent on a particular substance, and unable to stop taking it without incurring adverse effects.”

Let’s think about this for a minute.

Every now and then we all have a bad day and we might decide to go home and eat comfort food for dinner. That’s not an addiction. But for some that bad day might require an alcoholic beverage to deal with the days stress. Once in a while this might be ok, but I want to know- is this what we think of every time we have a slightly stressful day? Work was crazy- I need a drink. I didn’t get the raise I needed to cover living expenses- I need a drink. The baby was screaming all day- I need a drink. I think it might be argued that the frequency with which we use certain means to ease the physical side effects of mental stress may be an indicator of a potential addiction.

I want to make a distinction between something that we like and something to which we might be addicted. Something I like brings me pleasure because it arouses interest and pleasure, but is not going to cause both a physical and emotional dependence. Reading a particular genre of books or a type of tv show is not usually going to cause an addiction. I tend to get an emotional attachment to whomever my favorite musician of the moment may be, but because these things eventually grow old as we mature I wouldn’t say I am addicted to musician X. I merely have an attachment to the emotional manipulation I am allowing to happen at the moment in time when I am listening to said music. Smoking a cigarette because of stress and the need to calm down is going to cause both a physical and mental dependence on the nicotine and an emotional dependence on the calmness that many people say they get from it. Of course scientists have created a drug schedule that outlines the actual addictive effects of certain drugs like nicotine and alcohol and others, but dealing with that will not happen here. My intention at the moment is to be broad.

When I was a teenager I had a close friend who was very into the psychedelic. This person was prone to be interested in certain types of illegal substances, though I can’t say for sure that the individual partook in such things. I remember being entirely confused and not having the ability to understand why anyone would find interest in such things. But now I get it- though through no personal experience with any such substances. What I have come to understand is the utter sadness of life. As a believer I have a different perspective. I know that the Lord gives and he may take. I know that we are called look forward to our heavenly home so that we might hold to our earthly possessions loosely. I know that God is ultimately in control even when I don’t see it and nothing seems to make the least bit of sense.

But what if one doesn’t have such comfort. If I, as a believer, come to moments where everything seems out of control and I am throwing myself on Christ in all desperateness then what is the person who has no faith doing? I was reading an interview done with a favorite artist who has been dealing with addiction and he said he had a memory of his wife telling him that she loved him because she thought he was going to die. The same individual admits to having no belief in God and has no belief really in anything of the super ordinary. This person is agnostic. There is some force, but the God of the Bible, with whom he doesn’t seem terribly acquainted, just can’t be real- he’s too cruel.

But then there are others. Individuals who are trying to cope with abuse- mental/ emotional, physical, sexual- a combination of all of these things. Maybe they want to believe there is a benevolent being- perhaps even the God of the Bible, but if he is really there why would he ever let the things that have happened- actually happen? So these questions are drowned out by some sort of physical addiction that is used to intensify some sort of emotion and drown out- in some way- the momentary pain. For some individuals there is a realization that substances won’t work and they take their own lives. I find this sad, and I find it distasteful that a teenage me didn’t understand this. But God through the Holy Spirit is ultimately in control of the human heart and he can grip it and rend it even in spite of bad circumstances and a lack of understanding.

When I was growing up there was a Christian rock band- Family Force Five I think that had a song called Love Addict. It keeps going through my head because it spoke about God’s love as something to be addicted to. I can’t say I love that analogy. Addiction is always negative- it’s something that binds us hand and foot and destroys us. Addiction is always self-centered. We can’t be free while we are addicted. Yet God in his love frees us from addictions- at least ultimately. I think of Pilgrim’s Progress when Pilgrim looses his burden at the cross. That is love. God takes our sins and frees us from them. Though of course it’s usually not the case that things to which we are physically addicted- whether drugs, alcohol, sex, just disappear. I’m sure in rare cases they do, but God is so gracious that he can either allow us to drop all sin immediately, or he is gracious to constantly forgive us and provide us with grace as we learn to live a life with the intention of pleasing him. This is the direct opposite of anti-nomianism which would say that since God is good we can keep wallowing in our sins. No, usually learning to lean on God’s promises is hard and very painful, but the difference is our perspective.

So now when we have a friend who is prone to interest in inappropriate things we can move them gently but firmly towards Christ. Hopefully they will respond. If not there may be a time to get authorities or rehab specialist involved, but we can do so without making undue and ungracious judgments because we can look at our own hearts and see that there is something in our lives that may be just as rebellious towards our savior- even if it might be more socially acceptable.