What is addiction?
The Cleveland Clinic (academic medical center) states:
“Addiction is a chronic (lifelong) condition that involves compulsive (uncontrollable) seeking and taking of a substance or performing of an activity despite negative or harmful consequences.”
The majority of these addictions come from the reward center in your brain, or the need to feel that immediate “high” or “good feelings”. This reward center is built to create dopamine (feel good chemical) when you do things that are good for you to train your brain to naturally do them again. However, addictions can also create a release in dopamine- which trains your brain to naturally want to do them again.
God created the dopamine for a good thing, but we messed it up due to sin.
Victory over the Darkness (Neil T Anderson) sums it up well:
“All sinful behavior is a wrong attempt at meeting our basic needs. The essence of sin is a man living independently of God, who has said He will meet all of our needs as we live out life in Christ”
Physical (substance) addictions:
- Alcohol
- Caffeine
- Cannabis (marijuana/weed)
- Tobacco/nicotine
- Prescription drugs
- Illicit/illegal drugs (cocaine/meth)
Behavioral addictions:
- Gambling
- Exercise or dieting
- Shopping
- Sex / Pornography
- Video games / internet
- Work
Where do we see addiction in today’s culture Male vs Female?
Some of the common things we see men struggle with today
Lust / sex / pornography
Alcohol
Video Games
Many common addictions for women include:
Food
Emotions
Value
Where do we see addiction in the Bible Male vs Female?
The rich young ruler dealer with addiction to materialism
Judas struggle with addiction to greed
Saul struggled with addiction to envy
David struggled with addiction to women and lust
Potiphar’s wife - (sexual sin)
Genesis 39:6 - 13
“Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7 and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”
8 But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 9 No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” 10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.
11 One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. 12 She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.
Sexual sin is anything that pulls your heart and minds away from how God values you
Sarah and Abraham (Addicted to value or purpose)
Genesis 16:1-3
1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not been able to bear children for him. But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “The Lord has prevented me from having children. Go and sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have children through her.” And Abram agreed with Sarai’s proposal. 3 So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.)
4 So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar, and she became pregnant. But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress, Sarai, with contempt. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “This is all your fault! I put my servant into your arms, but now that she’s pregnant she treats me with contempt. The Lord will show who’s wrong—you or me!”6 Abram replied, “Look, she is your servant, so deal with her as you see fit.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away.
Mary & Martha- (Addicted to work)
Luke 10:38 - 42
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[f] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Where do we see addiction in our lives Male vs Female? (Personal relatable stories) AND How do we help those around us going through the same struggles?
Encouragements from the Bible about addiction
Romans 7:14 - 25 (NLT)
“14 So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[d] I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power[e] within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.”
Ending words
- The saying “show me your 5 closest friends and ill show you who you will become in the next 5 years” – you are what you eat, you will become who you ultimately spend all your time being around!
- Surround yourself closely with God following believers within discipleship and within the church
- Be vocal with those close in your life about your addictions so they can speak into them within discipleship and within your life groups
- Spend daily time with the Lord, the closer we are walking with Him the stronger we will be to overcome temptations when they come our way
- Even Jesus tells us to pray against evil and leading us not into temptation:
The Lords Prayer
“Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”