Romans 7:14-25 – For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
2 Peter 2:19 – They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.
Colossians 3:5 – Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
It’s a short walk from sin to habitual sin to addiction, which is frequent. People often descend the slippery slope from one level to another without a conscious awareness, which is why honest friends and trained professionals can help us see our blind spots.
In the kingdom of God, people worship Him by practicing self-control. In the earthly world, people worship pleasure as god and lose self-control, so their sinful flesh controls them.
Whereas the culture uses the word addiction, the Bible uses the word slavery. If you cannot stop a sinful pattern, you are a slave.
When Christians are addicted, they really only have four options:
- Minimization: Try and manage sin to keep it from getting worse. These efforts are doomed to failure. Sin is like cancer; either you kill it or it kills you.
- Compartmentalization: Try and hide it, live a secret double life, anxiously hoping you don’t get caught, exposed, and found out.
- Celebration: Accept it as your new identity and be proud of it even though you should be ashamed of it. This explains why the world has parades for things when it should have funerals.
- Liberation: Walk in the freedom God intends by killing what is killing you: Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
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