Cruel Idols
A look at our addictive behavior through a different lens…
Coming this Spring from Mick Duffy
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2
The truth is that we all have weights to lay aside, sins which cling closely to us… addictions that need breaking. For some it is substance… for others it is something else. For all of us it is a stark reality. There is no one who is exempt. The world in which we live is broken… and we are broken.
If we could somehow will our struggles away, we certainly would. But, if it is not clear to you already, our addictions are powerful - unrelenting, seemingly always there to dominate us whether we are willing to fight them or not.
Cruel Idols looks at addiction through a different lens. Unfortunately, a culture that works hard to keep God out of the mix would have us believe that, more often than not, our destructive and addictive life patterns are the result of things outside of the scope of our own personal responsibility – that our addictions are simply diseases that we contract from our contaminated surroundings. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that our surroundings are contaminated. The world is a mess and getting messier by the minute. Our environment does have a profound impact on us. But Jesus said that it’s not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man, but rather what comes out (Matthew 15, Mark 7). In other words, our propensity toward addiction and other destructive behaviors is inside of us already. Jeremiah reminds us that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick… It is impossible for us to truly know and understand it (Jeremiah 17:9).
My prayer is that this study will move beyond merely dealing with symptoms and get directly to the root causes of our suffering. I believe we find freedom in taking appropriate responsibility for our condition. And we discover power through the relationship we can have with Jesus to deliver us from the bondage of our addictive and destructive behavior. Life to the full is what Jesus came to give us. It is there for the taking – ours if we want it.
Getting clean and sober is a noble and desirable goal. Freedom from the shackles of wrong thinking and harmful behaviors will feel amazing. But more than these, life that is filled with joy and purpose, and worship that is rightly directed are the end game. Freedom comes through Jesus and He wants it for you and me more than we can possibly imagine…