If I injected myself with a disease, not
as part of some cure, but as some sort of poison, what would you think? I’m
sure you’d think I was being foolish. Of course, if I did other foolish things,
as a result of that disease, eventually people might say, “You can’t really
blame him, he has a disease.” Well, yes, I have a disease, and it affects me,
and it affects others, but whose fault was it that I was infected in the first
place? It was my awful choice. My choice had awful consequences. And it would
be even worse if I continued to inject myself with that disease. Again, how
foolish.
One of the effects of my self-injected disease is that I continue to make diseased choices. But it’s not as if I didn’t have a choice to begin with. And it’s not as if the continuing consequences aren’t affecting others. So, you can’t just subsidize irresponsibility by claiming, “It’s a disease.” You need to support responsibility by telling the truth, “It’s a sin.”
Sin is like a disease; it affects your life, the lives of others, and it breeds more sin. You need to smash your idol at its source; you are putting something else in God’s place and satisfying yourself with it. What God wants to be in your life, you are replacing with an idol. Jesus wants to be your source of love, joy, and peace, your refuge, your rescue, your significance, your sufficiency, and your security. Don’t let something else take his place.
Now, you might have a drink, and not be making a choice to get drunk, stay drunk, and be a drunk. You might get addicted “by accident.” But you still must seek help on purpose. And there is a difference between getting addicted to something you need, but you get too much of, and getting addicted to something you choose, that you don’t even need. So, if you aren’t yet addicted to alcohol, drugs, gambling, porn, or whatever unnecessary thing it may be, why start the process? And why continue to inject yourself with poison? After all, you might spread the disease.
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