By Dallas Gioe
“Hi, my name is Walter, and I am an addict.” This is the opening statement of a person
attending a 12-step meeting. This statement has deep-level implications on how the
person struggling with the sin of addiction defines their worth. When dealing with a
substance abuse issue, it is common to be told, “Addiction is part of who you are, you
will forever have the disease of addiction.” The disease model for addiction can be
reinforced by friends, family, doctors, and mental health specialists. This is often
accompanied by a prescription for different psychiatric drugs, being told you must attend
some sort of group therapy using the 12-Step AA/NA system, and being told this is not
what you do, but who you are now. I agree that physical withdrawal symptoms may
need to be dealt with by licensed medical professionals, but the root of addiction is a
spiritual issue. As Biblical counselors, we would call addiction what it is…idolatry, which
is sin.
Addiction is a Worship Problem
If addiction is the sin of idolatry, I feel it would be helpful to define idolatry. Idolatry is
anything that takes God’s rightful place as the highest object of worship in our lives.
“You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any
likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters under the
earth.” – Exodus 20:3-4
One might say to this, “Well I’m not worshipping a statue or golden calf, so how can you
say I am committing idolatry?”
I like to ask men struggling with addiction this set of questions to expose deep-seated
idols in their lives:
Do you adore your substance or sinful activity?
Do you focus on your substance or sinful activity?
Do you submit to your substance or sinful activity?
Do you seek after your substance or sinful activity?
Do you place your hope in your substance or sinful activity?
Do you serve your substance or sinful activity?
Do you spend a lot of time talking about your substance or sinful activity?
Do you look to your substance or sinful activity for peace, meaning, or happiness?
Do you spend a great amount of time, thoughts, energy, and resources on your
substance or sinful activity?
Have you been persecuted (called names, excommunicated, etc.) for your substance or
sinful activity?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, consider what they reveal: you are giving
this substance many of the things that rightly belong to Christ—your affection, attention,
submission, hope, service, and pursuit. So what has this substance or sinful activity
become in your life? Your god.
Your Sin Does Not Define You
For those apart from Christ, sin is still their master, and they are in need of the saving
power of Jesus Christ. But for the believer struggling with addiction, there is great hope:
you are no longer a slave to sin, and your sin no longer defines who you are.
Now that we have defined idolatry, let’s ask the question, “Does Scripture ever identify a
believer primarily by his sin?” In fact, Scripture tells us, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2
Corinthians 5:17). If you are in Christ, but struggle with a life-dominating sin, you are not
defined by that sin. That sin may describe something you struggle with or do, but it does
not define who you are. As Christians, we do not find our identity in our past sins, we
find our identity in who Christ says we are:
A child of God. Disciple. Servant. Brother. Sheep. Chosen. New Creation. God’s
Workmanship. Citizen of Heaven. Temple of the Holy Spirit. Justified. Redeemed.
Forgiven. Saint. Ambassadors for Christ. – Rom. 8:17,29-30, 2 Cor. 5:17-20, John
20:17, Eph 2:10
Having this new identity in Christ does not mean the believer no longer struggles with
sin. It means that sin is no longer your master, and you are no longer a slave to it. In the
Christian walk, we will fall into sin, but it’s a matter of what we do next. When the
believer does fall, Christ calls us to repentance – to turn from our idolatry back to the
one true God. We confess, repent, and continue to turn to the One who should be the
object of our worship.
If you are a believer in Christ and struggle with an addiction, the addiction is not your
identity. Christ is.
Questions for Reflection
- What do you run to for comfort, peace, escape, or satisfaction instead of God?
- Has a substance or sinful activity received your affection, attention, time,
resources, or devotion in ways that should belong to God? - If you are in Christ, do you tend to identify yourself by your past and your sin, or
by what Scripture says is true about you in Christ? - When you fall into sin, do you respond by returning to your old identity, or by
confessing, repenting, and turning back to Christ?