Substance Abuse Leads To Harm To The Body And The Spirit
Throughout the Bible, you will consistently find messages implicating substance abuse, namely alcohol, in harm to the body and the spirit. Famous passages about the harm caused by substance abuse include Proverbs 20:1, Isaiah 5:11, Ephesians 5:18-20, Galatians 5:19-21, Proverbs 23:20-21, Romans 13:13-14, and others. Many of these focus on wine, because it was the most common substance of its day. Without synthesized or man-made drugs, alcohol and opium , were often the drugs of choice. None sum it up quite so succinctly as Proverbs 23:29-35:
Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
They that tarry long at the wine they that go to seek mixed wine.
Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.
At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.
Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.
They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
The passage is clear in its message that alcohol is seductive, but ultimately harmful.
Make A Searching And Fearless Moral Inventory Of Yourself
We must stop running from the truth about ourselves and our brokenness. It is only as we are truthful that we can experience healing. The truth shall make you free .
Search me, O God, and know my heart test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting .
Break Free From Addiction With Wisdom From Scripture
- General Biblical Studies, Interdenominational Christian Training Center
Addiction is a chronic or habitual dependency on a substance , a compulsion , or an activity . These are just a few of the many addictions people use to cope with overwhelming life events or to escape emotional pain and anxiety.
While the Bible does not explicitly mention the word addiction, it does contain numerous passages that address the issue and offer wisdom to help believers break free from sin and the consequences of addiction. These Bible verses about addiction provide hope, healing, guidance, and insight on your road to recovery.
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What The Bible Says About Drunkenness And Drunkards
Alcohol was one of the most abused drugs during the time period during which the Bible was written. Its possible that references to drunkenness refer to alcohol addiction.
Dozens of Bible verses refer to drunkards and drunkenness.
- Romans 13:13
- Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.
- 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
- Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
- Galatians 5:19-21
- The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery idolatry and witchcraft hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy drunkenness, orgies and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
These verses can be interpreted to mean that being addicted to alcohol is a sin, but the sin is forgiven if you recover from alcoholism. The verses can also be interpreted to mean being drunk is a sin, and if you stop sinning , God will forgive you.
Identifying Triggers In Your Marriage
They were both convinced they had married the wrong person. From almost the very beginning of their marriage, Amber and Guy Lia experienced various tensions and personality clashes related to house cleaning, backseat driving, workaholism, and intimacy. In this two-day Focus on the Family broadcast, Amber and Guy discuss how they bravely faced the triggers head-on, and committed to working on their own relationships with Jesus. As you listen to the Lias story, youll feel hope that you, too, can see real marriage transformation!
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Christ Came To Set Us Free From Sins Control
Galatians 5:1 says that Jesus Christ set us free, and therefore, we should not get tied up again in slavery to sin. John 8:36 also says that the Son of God sets us free, and so we are free indeed.
Romans 6:67We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.
Romans 6:11So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:12-13Do not let sin control the way you live do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.
Romans 6:14Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of Gods grace.
Romans 6:1819Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living. Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.
Why Look To The Bible For Help In Overcoming Addiction
Researchers have found that addiction is often associated with such deep-seated issues as loneliness, stress, anxiety, and depression. The Bible can help you to build the faith needed to cope successfully with the challenges that may contribute to addiction. It shows how you can have a close friendship with God. With his help, you can overcome problems that might seem impossible to solve on your own..
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Remaining Addicted Is A Sin
Substance abuse is a temptation that leads you away from the light of God. You cannot be a Christian and continue to indulge, but you can accept God back into your life and have your sins washed away. There is always hope for forgiveness, no matter how far you have fallen into addiction.
Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:10-11
This message is repeated throughout the Bible, in the Old and New Testatament.
Envyings, murders, drunkenness, reveling, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God Galations 5:21
In Romans, the Bible explicitly talks about throwing off bounds of substance abuse and poor habits and rising up to be worthy of salvation and of God.
And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.
Let us walk honestly, as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. Romans 13:10-13
Addiction Makes You A Slave
God never intended for us to be slaves. He came to set us free. Unfortunately, addiction changes ones brain chemistry. What may have started as a choice is no longer something they choose. You often hear uneducated people say addicts do it to themselves, or why didnt they just stop, they literally cant. Thats why no matter what, one should never stop praying for your loved one who is struggling. If you dont continue to pray for them, then who will?
Substance abuse changes their brain chemistry.
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Quotes From Billy Graham On Addiction
Many people struggle with addiction. Whether its substance abuse, or anything else that keeps us from fulling living for God, The Bible says that God will always provide a way out of temptation when it arises . Through Jesus Christ, there is hope to experience freedom from addiction.
Read what Billy Graham had to say about addiction.
An addiction is something that almost consumes a persons time and energy, and that they cant break out of on their own.
Occasionally, I get letters from people who spend all their time on the Internet, or on constant exercise, gambling, pornography, or some other bad habit they dont seem to be able to break, although they usually know its harmful and could even destroy them. Psychologists Ive talked to say these activities can become just as addictive as a dangerous drug and as destructive.
Each generation becomes more addicted to the sedatives of life, to dull the pain of living.
What began as an apparently harmless pastime has ended up as a frightening, overpowering addiction or obsession.
Many people are trying to steady themselves by taking tranquilizers. Jesus is the greatest tranquilizer of all. He can straighten out your life and put you back on center.
In Christ alone there is deliverance from mans tortured thoughts and freedom from the sordid habits which are destroying so many people
The Gospel is the answer to the drug problem because it alone delivers us from evil.
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Same Stuff Different Day The Sacred & The Secular
In recovery circles, its often remarked that anything you put before youre recovery you will lose.
Your recovery is jealous in that way.
This is just the old concept of idolatry re-established to meet a cultural need. Keep it simple. For Welch, recovery means a relationship with God.
To illustrate, he writes,
When you look at it closely, drunkenness is a lordship problem. Who is your master, God or your desires? Do you desire God above all else, or do you desire something on creation more than you desire the Creator? At root, drunkards are worshipping another God alcohol. Nonetheless, at its core alcohol is simply used as a prop on the altar of self-worship. Welch concludes, Heavy drinkers drink neither to glorify God nor to love their neighbor. They drink to indulge their own desires, whether those desires are pleasure, freedom from pain, alleviation of fear, forgetting, vengeance, or a host of others.
He by no means denies the reality of the addict being taken by a substance or behavior that is, the will being hijacked and overrun.
However, he retorts that all sins have a payout its how they work, its their pernicious currency if you will.
Therefore, he notes, It is just to say that, for the addict, slavery with the object of desire, is sometimes preferable to freedom without it
This certainly aligns with the all too frequent mantra reckoned from the lips of addicts: Im not afraid of dying, but Im terrified of living.
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Mothers And Sons: Being A Godly Influence
Rhonda Stoppe describes her early motherhood challenges of raising a son, which was intimidating to her. She found help through group of older women mentors. She urges moms to see their role as ministry in shaping sons to be good and godly men. Rhonda outlines several practical suggestions to moms about spiritual training, how to communicate with boys, and supporting the father-son relationship as a wife.
Loving Your Spouse Through The Seasons Of Marriage
Debra Fileta has identified the four seasons of marriage that correspond with our natural seasons spring , summer , fall , and winter . In this interview, she will help couples better understand the four seasons of healthy relationships, what to expect during each one, and how to carefully navigate them for a stronger marriage.
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A Consequence Of Brokeness And Sin
Most addicts are emotionally wounded people who have experienced severe trauma, often in childhood. Their addiction becomes a way of coping with everyday life, helping them forget or mask past hurts. Instead, the person ends up in a destructive cycle of bondage to sin, rendering them incapable of experiencing the freedom and wholeness they truly want and need.
2 Peter 2:19For you are a slave to whatever controls you.
John 8:34
Romans 6:16Dont you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.
Romans 6:2021For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
Overcoming Challenges Specific To Alcohol Addiction
If you ask the average person what drug people are most commonly addicted to, you might get a wide variety of responses. The answer is alcohol. It has been mentioned here that the legal drugs are some of the most addicting: caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol. Of these and all of the illegal drugs, including the sometimes legal, sometimes illegal drug marijuana, the most commonly abused drug is alcohol.
Abuse of alcohol can start early for many 12 or 13 years old is not uncommon. In fact, research has shown that those who start drinking before 19 have a much more difficult time achieving lasting sobriety in adulthood. Why? Well, that is a good question. But one view is that the use of alcohol during the formative years of development short circuits healthy emotional development and well as the growth of healthy intimacy skills. Alcohol becomes the tool used to manage emotion and difficult feelings like social anxiety, anger, hurt, sadness, fear, hopeless, and insecurity. In order to have fun with friends or to feel confident sexually, alcohol becomes the relaxer and the courage producer. When that adolescent then becomes an adult, genuine engagement without alcohol, or some other drug, is very difficult or may even feel impossible.
My wife says Im an addict. She is super over-reactive and judgmental.
Im concerned about how I depend on having that glass or two of wine each night.
My husband says Im an alcoholic. He gets upset when I have even one drink.
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I Will Always Love You
While all Christians want to stay as far away from sin as they can, there is no doubt that we are going to make mistakes. We are going to make a lot of mistakes, in fact. That does not mean that God will not continue to love you with all His heart. Jesus died on the cross for you. That type of love isn’t one that will vanish over a drug addiction, no matter how bad things get. While it can be hard for friends and family to stay in contact with a drug addict, for God it’s not an issue. His love for you is not going anywhere. Remember John 3:16 which says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Moms Raising Sons To Be Men
Mothers of boys have the special calling to shape future men of God. Popular speaker Rhonda Stoppe, mom to two sons, knows this opportunity is a challenge, a joy, and probably the most important work of a womans life. Drawing from years of experience, this inspirational resource will revive the faithfulness and fortitude a woman needs to partner with God as they shape the character and heart of a future godly man.
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Healthy Boundaries For Couples
One of the common challenges for couples in recovery from addiction is how to work out healthy boundaries. The areas of their relationship where this comes up is typically around issues such as openness about use or urges to use, how recovery is going, sex, relapse, or emotional sharing.
If you have been involved in addiction or some type of problematic use, you may be wondering how much you should tell your spouse about how you are doing. Your spouse may be asking and you’re not sure how to answer. They are wanting reassurance that you are getting the help you need and that you are on solid ground in your recovery and that you’re staying away from whatever tempts you. But when your spouse asks you things, you’re not sure how it will go if you answer them. It is important to remember that your process of recovery is your process. Your spouse cannot work your program for you and most likely, you really don’t want them to. However, because of the choices you have made and the dangers attached to those choices, your spouse may have specific needs in order to feel safe and in order to feel they can truly trust your commitment to change.
To Drink or Not to Drink: Should you drink around others who have a problem with alcohol?
Reading Break
O.K., so lets look at Romans 14 together. Here is the actual text.
Now lets take each verse apart and apply it specifically to alcohol. Below I have reworded Romans 14 to apply specifically to the use of alcohol. Read it carefully.
