This article is part 2 of the “How to Walk in Freedom” series. The full series can be found here.
To watch a video of this article being ready by me on a YouTube video, click here.
In the previous article, we began discussing what it actually means to have freedom in Christ. In short, we defined it as freedom from self and sin in order to serve others in the service of Jesus Christ. As well, we honed in on the fact that freedom from sin means loving our neighbor as ourselves — as commanded by Jesus and the Law.
In this article, we will discuss how freedom from sin relates to addiction.
THE ISSUE IS BIGGER THAN ADDICTION
Sometimes, especially for those of us who’ve struggled with addiction, we tend to think of freedom from sin mainly in terms of being free from harmful addictions, such as pornography addiction, drug addiction, gambling addiction, etc. However, we need to understand that those addictions are merely symptoms of the true bondage we’re experiencing — bondage to a self-serving way of living.
As an example, if I watch pornography, I’m placing my fleshly desires above my wife’s needs. I’m using what was intended for her to serve only myself. Even if I’m not married yet, I’m still doing damage to my future wife and devaluing her needs by warping my own sexual desires, which will affect how I view her when that time comes. Moreover, if I watch pornography, I’m showing no care for all those who are harmed by the porn industry. Instead, I’m placing myself first. That is not Christianity. That is not Christ-like. That is the fruit of the sin-dominated, self-serving flesh of fallen mankind.
We could go through each major addiction, but let’s just briefly talk about one more — smoking addiction. “How is smoking self-serving?”, you might ask. Well, if I use my finances to buy cigarettes, who am I serving with my finances? The answer isn’t God. Nor is it others. It’s self. As well, if I expose others to second-hand smoke, I am not loving my neighbor as myself. Smoking does no good for anyone else and sometimes does harm. Smoking accomplishes nothing but gratifying the desires of the flesh. It is a fleshly, self-serving habit that fails to offer to Christ what is rightfully His:
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Romans 12:1
“What? know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own? For you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
If any of you are smokers, you might feel like I’m picking on you, but all of these same principles could be applied to any number of issues, including the things I struggle with.
In addition to questions of how we use our bodies or spend our money, there’s also the issue of whether our time is spent in service of self or service of others. Every minute, hour, day, and week we spend gratifying our own fleshly desires is time when we are doing nothing to serve others in the service of Christ.
None of this is to say it’s always inherently wrong to spend some time relaxing or to occasionally buy something we don’t really need — although the truth is that most of us probably spend way too much time and money on self-centered activities. With addiction, these things aren’t usually just small expenses or occasional activities. Substance abuse is extremely expensive. Those who watch pornography are usually wasting hours and hours of time that could be spent serving others. But aside from all that, the things I’m talking about are inherently harmful to self and others. Love does no harm to others:
“Love works no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Romans 13:10
CONDEMNATION IS NOT THE GOAL HERE
Before we continue, let me be very clear, I’m not writing any of this to condemn you. My aim is for you to be free from these outgrowths of the self-seeking life and free from the condemnation that comes with them. As well, I’m well aware that I have not vanquished self-seeking from my own life. I need to experience growth as much as anyone else! I’m just here to share some of the things I’ve learned on my own journey.
Now that we’ve cleared that up, back to our discussion.
FREEDOM FROM ADDICTION ISN’T ENOUGH
It is quite possible that I could be free from all the major addictions people think of — sexual immorality, drugs, alcohol, gambling, etc. — and still be living in complete bondage to sin. The reason should already be clear from what I’ve said so far, but let me say it again clearly:
Bondage to sin is bondage to the self-seeking, self-serving life.
Even if my life is free from vice, if I spend all my time and money doing nothing but serving myself and living a life of leisure, entertainment, recreation, and material pursuit, I am living a life in bondage to sin. And contrary to popular belief, living such a lifestyle will not yield the fruit of joy. It might produce temporary happiness, but lurking in the shadows will be the emptiness that comes from failing to do what I was designed to do — love God and love others, not just in word, but in deed and in truth:
“My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:18
WE CAN’T SERVE TWO MASTERS
When a temptation to watch pornography or to smoke a cigarette comes along, and I’m already living my life in service of self, I’m already in a position of defeat. A temptation towards vice in those circumstances is just a temptation to do what I have already been doing — serving sin. For example, when I’m vegging out on excessive television-watching or video-game-playing and my flesh tempts me to light up a cigarette or search for pornography on the Internet, the master I have already been serving is just telling me to do something else. When that happens, the battle was already over before it began.
Walking in freedom isn’t just about being free from doing some self-serving things while continuing to do others — with no desire to do otherwise. If that’s our mindset, it’s like we’re trying to win some of the battles while having already conceded the war. It’s like we’re willingly continuing to serve our old slave master but trying to temporarily change masters when the old slave master tells us to do something we don’t want to do. It just won’t work. No one can serve two masters:
“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Matthew 6:24
The above statement from Jesus is in reference to mammon (a KJV word for riches) but the principle applies to our discussion as well. If sin is our master, we will ultimately do what sin tells us to do. We can’t willingly serve sin 98% of the time and then somehow change masters temporarily the other 2% of the time when we don’t like what our master is telling us to do.
So, instead of focusing only on one or two battles, we need to pay attention to the war, and instead of only trying to rid ourselves of one or two symptoms of the self-seeking life, we need to acknowledge that we have bigger problems. We need to repent of our self-seeking, self-serving ways and begin the process of learning to depend on Jesus to re-orient our entire mode of living. The more we learn to walk in love in every area of our lives, the more these temptations toward addictive, self-seeking behaviors will lose their luster.
THE PHYSICAL SIDE OF ADDICTION IS REAL
Before moving on, I want to clarify that I’m not saying addiction is only about selfishness or wrong priorities. There’s also a real physical component to it in many cases — chemical dependence, withdrawal, and changes in the body that make quitting extremely difficult. I’m not overlooking that or suggesting that simply recognizing the self-seeking nature of these addictions will make those physical aspects disappear. Even after we’ve repented of the self-life, we still need to learn to depend on the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome the physical aspects of addiction. What I’m trying to convey is simply that the self-life is the deeper, bigger issue that must be dealt with first before we can even begin to address chemical dependency issues.
WE CAN’T DO IT WITHOUT JESUS
To be clear, nothing in this article is to say we can live the crucified life — the life of serving others in the service of Christ — in our own strength or without the power of the Gospel. Merely having a desire to put off the self-seeking life and walk in the love of Christ isn’t enough to actually accomplish it. We are but branches who can do nothing apart from the True Vine — Jesus Christ (see John 15:4-5). Even when our spirit becomes willing, the flesh is still weak:
“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” Romans 7:18
SUMMARY
The main point of this article is not that the key to overcoming addiction is to first overcome the self-life. The main point of this article is that the main goal is to overcome the self-life — and overcoming addiction is just one of the spoils of winning that war.
I hope you see the difference there. Let me say it again more succinctly to drive it home:
The main goal of learning to walk in freedom is not overcoming addiction.
The main goal of learning to walk in freedom is overcoming the self-life.
Overcoming addiction is a secondary issue in comparison to the primary pursuit of learning to live for others rather than self.
I’m also not saying that to overcome addiction, all you have to do is stop being so self-seeking all the time. Our propensity towards self-seeking isn’t something we can just whisk away or muster up the willpower to overcome. It’s a deep-seated spiritual issue that can only be addressed by the cross. Without learning to rely on the finished work of the cross as the defeat of our old master, we won’t find the ability — or the freedom — to serve any other master.
