My husband and I are assigned the task of teaching high school seniors a lesson on the Dangers of Alcohol on Sunday. WOW. A sobering subject (no pun intended). Because as much as we enjoy a good glass of wine, we would willingly trade it for the lives of people lost to us through alcohol-addiction or or alcohol-related-death.
That being said, we can NOT smugly sit aside and point fingers at those who struggle with alcohol addiction. I have a powerful addiction too, and the Bible tells me you do too: ADDICTION TO SELF. Add into that substances, activities, relationships that I think I will die if I cannot do or have. I am an addict. That’s why I love grace. Hear from Samson and the Pirate Monks again on the dire need for community along with the gospel to combat addiction, not to mention the stunning reality that addiction sends us flying to God for grace (though sometimes later rather than sooner.)
“God, in his grace, has used addiction to shatter my moralistic understanding of the Christian faith and force me to accept the gospel. I am not a faithful man. That’s why I need a Savior. I cannot live victoriously on my own. That’s why I need a Helper and brothers. I cannot keep my promises to God—the very act of making them is delusional—but God will keep his promises to me.
As a Christian, I am perpetually reduced to the role of a supplicant. No more can I offer God a bargain, his favor in exchange for my faithfulness, or go toe-to-toe with him, demanding payment for years of service. But when I approach him humbly, as a restored prodigal son, he responds with overwhelming generosity to my requests for aid. No fancy prayers are required. In fact, God finds fancy prayers repugnant. He loves it, however, when I acknowledge my need and my belief in his benevolence with a simple one-word prayer: “Help! ” Samson and the Pirate Monks, Nate Larkin
