CCEF recently posted this podcast on addictions with Alasdair Groves and Mike Emlet. They made several good
suggestions in how to cope with addictive patterns and behaviors:
- Recognize the triggers in your life—specific stresses that contribute to a desire to escape.
- Walk in the light with others about how you’re struggling. “Sometimes we put just enough on the table to keep people from looking under the table.”
- Fail well—using failure as an opportunity to turn away from sin and back to holiness, not minimizing sin or diving back into addiction.
- Watch out for the “micro-steps” in the wrong direction—is my heart inclining toward sin?
- Celebrate “micro-steps” in the right direction—changes in attitude and heart.
We all have some addictive tendencies (sin patterns) though
they have varying degrees of intensity and consequences. I know my own
“preferred sins” and I know many of the stresses that lead me to desire sin. I
often think of a comment C. S. Lewis made in one of his letters that when he
had made some progress against obvious temptations the devil then had to resort
to “stratagems and ploys” to trip him up. Over time the ploys change, so we
have to “be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around
like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8 ESV).
“[What is] miserable is when we go for years and years in the bondage of sin and see no way out. Of course the enemy wants us to believe that ‘this is just the way I am’ or ‘this is the best I can hope for’ when in reality that is the furthest thing from the truth… Sin has a way of keeping us subdued and alone—even in a crowd—by threatening to expose us and humiliate us.” –Dennis Jernigan (Daily Devotions for Kingdom Seekers, Nov. 27-28).
“What a person needs is not an expert [on sin] but a friend to walk with them.” –Christopher Yuan
I think one of the biggest hindrances to the pursuit of
holiness is the lack of close friends we can trust to keep us accountable and
walk in the light with us. We all need a few such people in our lives.
Listening to Alistair Begg’s messages on Remorse or Repentance this week on Truth for Life, I pictured some people I know who
seem to have fallen off either side of the narrow road. Some made a declaration
of faith, but later withered away because they had no root (Matthew 13) and
today are nowhere to be seen around the church. Others appear to be actively
involved in ministry, but below the surface they are living in unrepentant sin.
Both types of people are in danger of eternal judgment, and often only God
knows their hearts. If they had maintained close relationships with strong
Christians, they would have been much less likely to slide off the path.
May we be quick to repent to God and to a close friend, and
may we be the kind of friends who can be trusted to listen and help those who
are struggling.
“Enter by the narrow
gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and
those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that
leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:13-14).
© 2018 Dawn
Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from
pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of
my church or employer.
