What is addiction and who does it affect when someone is addicted to something?

Let’s start with webster’s definition of addiction: a compulsive, chronic, physiological or psychological need for a habit-forming substance, behavior, or activity having harmful physical, psychological, or social effects and typically causing well-defined symptoms (such as anxiety, irritability, tremors, or nausea) upon withdrawal or abstinence: the state of being addicted.

When we think of addiction we think of Drugs, Pornography, cursing, drinking, lying, and so on.

Have you ever thought about being addicted to something GREAT?

Like being addicted to prayer, or addicted to being nice to others, or the addiction to smiling?

The truth is that I never thought about the possibility of addiction being a good thing.  It has always carried a bad stigma in my mind. (until I started writing this devotional, amazing how God works isn’t it?)

For right now let’s focus on the addiction in the bad way.

When we are addicted to drugs, who does it affect?

Of course, it affects the user of the drugs. But it also affects their family and friends, the person who they bought the drugs from, and anyone they come in contact with, even when they might be sober.

You might be asking if they are sober, for the moment, why would it make a difference.

The thing is that when we are addicted to something it literally changes our whole personality. Even when we are off it for a while.

Let’s take prayer as an example.

If we are addicted to prayer and we pray all day every day. What happens when we stop praying?

Our mood changes, usually for the worse. We might be temperamental or over react to things people say to us.

Alcohol works the same way but in the opposite direction. When someone who has been a functioning alcoholic they walk around in a daze and half out of it all the time. They never feel good at all. Their body is trying to get them to learn that they need to stop drinking.

Because their mind is in a different state, they don’t usually pick up on the hints their body is sending them.

Instead of drinking less, they drink more because they don’t feel good, and the alcohol makes them forget their problems. For a few moments.

How does it affect those who are close to the addicts?

Again, let’s say that someone is addicted to drugs, their family and friends care about them and are probably wondering whether to call the authorities on them. They don’t want to see them suffer and go to jail, but on the other hand that is the one place where they HAVE to get sober.

I have seen an addiction ruin marriages, tear fathers and mothers away from their families, and break up friendships that have been around since the two of them were wee little lasses.

What can we do as Christians for those who are addicted to things that cause pain to themselves and others?

We can be there for encouragement. Show them that no matter what happens we love them and we are here to support them.

It might be tough, but we can help the person who calls for help.

We can pray for them, continually. We can talk to them with God in our hearts.

In First Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13, it says No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

We should also know that the road to recovery is not an easy road and we should be considerate and understanding of it. We should know that there will be HARD days.

I once worked with a recovered meth addict, he had been clean for over 10 years. One day when we drove through a subdivision with our windows down, I looked over to the passenger’s seat and his face was white. I asked him, what’s up bud, everything ok?

He replied, roll up the windows, NOW!

I kinda thought he was joking, it was a beautiful day, but the look on his face told me otherwise. So we rolled up the windows of the pickup, cranked the AC, and put it on recycle mode so it wouldn’t bring in any outside air.

A few minutes later I asked him, What happened back there?

His response shocked me, there was a meth lab back there, I could smell it. All I wanted to do was go find it and get my fix.

This guy was clean, I mean super clean! Like he didn’t drink, smoke, chew, cuss, anything. He was truly reformed.

But one smell from a neighborhood made him want to relapse after 10 years of sobriety.

As outsiders to STRONG addiction, we need to be aware and not put the recovered in any situations that might cause them to relapse.

God never wants us to cause any harm to those around us.