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MAY 12<br />
ADDICTIONS<br />
“‘All things are permissible for me,’ but not all things are beneficial.<br />
‘All things are permissible for me,’ but I will not be dominated/ruled by<br />
anything.” (1 Cor 6: 12)<br />
Addiction has to do with a loss of freedom, rather than some inherent<br />
“badness” of the “thing” to which one becomes addicted. In the case of<br />
more or less common addictions, like addiction to drugs, alcohol, sex,<br />
video-games, or the Internet, our loss of freedom happens in small steps,<br />
unnoticeably. At first, the “thing” helps us in some way, …until it doesn’t.<br />
It ceases to “help” when we are drawn to the thing against our will,<br />
because we are now “dominated/ruled” by it, which is what the Apostle<br />
is warning me against in the passage quoted above.<br />
The good news about the suffering of addiction, however, is that it can<br />
compel me to seek God and His help in a most earnest and renewed<br />
manner. Because only God can liberate me from the powerful grip of a<br />
real addiction. “And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of<br />
all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself<br />
restore, support, strengthen, and establish you” (1 Pet 5:10). If I have<br />
slipped into an addiction, this can be a wake-up call from Him, to let go of<br />
self-reliance and let Him be a true part of my life.<br />
Today I thank God, in earnest prayer, for all the things and people in my<br />
life, and ask<br />
that I be “dominated/ruled” by Him alone, seeking His liberating truth on<br />
a daily basis. “Then you will know the truth,” the Lord promises me, “and<br />
the truth will set you free.” (Jn 8: 32)<br />
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