Joy or Addiction
The absence of joy is what drives one to drugs or other soul fillers which are counterfeits of joy.
Joy is; the exaltation of my inner being, from right-relationship with God, His creation, myself, and others. When you detour from this path, addiction is not far down the road, because joy won’t be going with you on your journey through ife. Addictive’s are simply substitutes for something we need, joy.
Addiction originates from conflicts with these right relationships. A key insight to overcoming alcoholism, for example, is to start with your relationship with God and then work your way through your relationships with others. Even Twelve Step programs begin with acknowledging a “god” (higher power) and then assessing relationships.
The Bible says, “the joy of the Lord is our strength.” Low energy, lack of motivation, lethargy, listlessness, boredom, restlessness, etc. are just symptoms of low joy or no joy at all. It’s like operating a car when it’s low on oil. We can’t go very far without it. The fact is, we were designed with the core need for joy. God promises it to us and He’s the source.
God’s therapy is therefore radically different from the common methods. Tracing conditions like depression and addictions to issues of Faith and relationships revolutionizes the approach to effective counseling. When the starting point of your analysis isn’t Christ, the destination is bound to be pharmaceutical, either prescribed or self-administered. At best, it will be incomplete. At worst, it’s just another substitute for the same joylessness. That’s not a solution.
As one who was severely addicted to street drugs in my late teens, I can testify to the futility of any other alternative solution until I met Christ. I became addicted because I loved getting “high.” That’s why “Just say no,” was never helpful because “After you say no, then what?” The joy of the Lord is the “high” way we are designed for. Until I found it, I was on the “high” way to hell. Saying yes to God is the “high” way to joy. He lifts the inner man. It’s the greatest “buzz” of all, superior to any other. When it comes to the Joy of The Lord, I still love getting high. That’s how you overcome addiction: by the ultimate addiction.
Joy is the gauge of true success in life. Take a reading. It confirms the compass of a good conscience and indicates if we’re on track to victorious living, regardless of the current circumstances. It’s the pathway out of the entanglement of addiction and it can sustain you through anything, a Philippian jail, or even the road to Calvary.
Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross.” Acts 16:25, Heb.12:2