What Does The Bible Say About Addiction?

Does the Bible have anything to say about addictions? If so, what verses are they and how can they help the believer struggling with addictions?

Not Being Conquered by Anything

Paul once wrote “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything” (1 Cor 6:12) which seems to indicate about anything that we crave in our fleshly desires. Things such as controlled substances, alcohol, nicotine, food, shopping, pornography, surfing the Internet, or whatever else comes to your mind. It might be legal (are lawful) to drink alcohol but for me, I chose not to but I’m not going to judge others if they do. I know that drunkenness is sin but for some, if they see nothing wrong with drinking in moderation like in having a glass of wine or a beer with a meal, I don’t see the need to judge them. As for me, coming from a background and having a history of alcohol and drugs, the only drugs I take are ibuprofen or aspirin and the only alcohol I take in is my mouthwash. That’s it! I decided, nothing more for me because I don’t want to fall back into that trap from my past.

Having the Right Doesn’t Make it Right

Paul may have been answering the critics who were judging others when he wrote “I have the right to do anything,” you say–but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”–but not everything is constructive” (1 Cor 10:23). Paul had freedom in Christ and that included his diet so he did have the right to do anything but certainly, as he wrote, not everything is beneficial to him. For Paul and certainly for Christians, “It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble” (Rom 14:21) meaning that if you ever invited an orthodox Jewish friend over, you shouldn’t serve pork, even if it’s lawful for you to do because it will cause unnecessary offense. I know that this wasn’t necessarily written to orthodox Jews but there may have been some Jews there who had been converted to Christianity and it seems wrong to do what their conscience considers wrong. Paul was saying “Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak” (1^st Cor 8:9) because “if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall” (1^st Cor 8:13) but this is not exactly talking about addictions but the point is that you wouldn’t offer a drink to someone at your table who has overcome an addiction to alcohol, would you? It might “cause them to fall.”

We’re All Tempted

Paul wrote to the church at Corinth that “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1^st Cor 10:13) because “each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire” (James 1:14) and “after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:15). That’s why “no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone” (James 1:13). No one is immune to becoming addicted, whether it be a legal or illegal substance, whether it be a compulsion to spend money or make money (as a workaholic), and even if it’s an addiction to the Internet, movies, Facebook, pornography, or any other number of things that we can all become easily addicted to.

Overcoming Addictions

Paul has already stated that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we’re able to overcome and will make a way of escape for us (1^st Cor 10:13) because we can do all things through Christ Who will strengthen us (Phil 4:13). Even our addictions cannot separate us from the love of Christ (Rom 8:35). To be sure “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:37-39). All things means what it says; all things! Whether these things are controlled or illegal substances, things that pass through the “eye gate”…whatever they are. I think the wisest thing to do is to surrender to God and plead for His strength; ask Him to give you a new heart with new desires. Surround yourself with believers who can pray for you and find an accountability partner to check on you on a regular basis. We are not totally helpless victims of our circumstances or fleshly desires.

Conclusion

I speak from experience in saying that overcoming addictions is not easy. I believe we all have some sort of addiction to at least something but we don’t always want to escape them bad enough until we are finally desperate enough to try any form of intervention. God knows our heart, He knows our temptations, and He is more than willing to help and he’s certainly more than able to help us overcome our addictions.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book  Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon