Lies of Addiction:
1. Life should be easy and problem-free.
Jesus says ‘in this life you will have many troubles’. But instead of trusting Him in them, I turn against Him and feel outraged when this is the case.
2.When challenges occur I need substance/ behaviour X to face it.
Nope. As a human I’m created to be dependent on Jesus alone. In reality, He’s the one I often run from. I look to addictions or ‘habits’ to make me feel better. But instead of helping me face life, they lower my tolerance to suffering, numb me to challenge (and myself) and leave me less able to cope.
Nice self-handicapping.
3. I deserve the things I want and if I don’t get them I can’t cope.
This is a very neat way of allowing me to feel sorry for myself so I can justify turning to X. But feeling uncomfortable is not the same as being unable to cope. What I really deserve is judgement – yet Christ gives me grace.
4. People should act in the way I want. If they fail, I can’t be dealing with them.
This one sets me up to get really upset when others ‘let me down’ and I am therefore ‘forced’ to go back to my old addictions. After all, it’s their fault. (NB: I am of course, immune from such flaws. Mine are ‘lovable quirks’.)
5. If I struggle, I’m more worthless than everyone else.
Funny how 4+5 (pride and self-hatred) go hand-in-hand. Here, when things go bad it’s because I am toxic. And desperate times call for desperate measures. (we know where this is heading….)
I feel like I have no choice. I hate discomfort and I need relief. But the truth is very different:
Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin’s every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. Romans 6:6-11
What lies have I missed? And how do you fight them?
I didn’t really enjoy this at all because that is exactly how I think more times than I care to admit and I certainly needed to read it. Thank you
beautiful and true, oh so hard to put into practice, I can very much relate to Lesley! I am almost always if not always disobedient or justifying myself! Help me Lord to repent and change!