Recovery: Process or Event?
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A number of unique challenges face conservative Christians who are seeking recovery from their addictions and compulsions. It is one thing to turn down a bowl of rocky road ice cream, put the cork in the liquor bottle, or throw away a pack of cigarettes, swearing that we will never touch the evil substance or substances again. It’s another to be changed from the inside out.
A.A. wisdom suggests that mere abstinence is qualitatively different from genuine sobriety. The abstinent individual is considered to be a “dry drunk” (one who is restless, irritable, discontent, and difficult to get along with). A person with true sobriety ceases to fight his/her addiction OR the world and it is often-quite-wrong people. He or she enjoys genuine peace of mind and is relatively easy to get along with.
Many religiously-inclined people have assumptions about God and God’s expectations that delay or defy all attempts to “gain the victory” over addiction. Make no mistake: non-Christians struggling with addictive behavior have their own challenges. Christians are not unique in that sense. We dare not succumb to the notion that we are different. Our mental blocks may be unique, but we are not unique. Uniqueness is a terminal condition. We need a program of recovery as much as any other addict.
Here are some of the obstacles we face: (1) “If I were truly converted, I could gain the victory over besetting sin.” (2) “If I try hard enough and pray long enough, I can conquer my problem.” (3) “If I really wanted to quit, I could muster the willpower to do so.” (4) “If I accept Christ, I will be a new creature and will stop doing wrong.” (5) “If I get baptized or re-baptized, I will be delivered from the desire to drink or drug.”
Unfortunately, there are people around us who are willing to urge these misconceptions upon us if we don’t have them already. They insist that recovery is a natural byproduct of being born again and that we don’t need anything else. Many of Job’s comforters were (and are) highly codependent. If enabling is definable as “helping another person stay sick,” then they serve that purpose extremely well, in spite of their good intentions.
A young parochial school teacher who is addicted to marijuana refuses to admit that he has a problem or seek professional help. He believes that if he just gets closer to God, his cravings will go away. A middle-aged pastor who is addicted to pornography fasts and prays earnestly for healing to no avail. His guilt knows no bounds. A church elder with a secret smoking habit confides in another elder and asks to be anointed privately in order to break his habit. A teenager reared in an ultra-religious home sincerely seeks relief from his drug addiction by taking Bible studies and being re-baptized. When he gets high a week later, his shame drives him to commit suicide. I know all of these people personally, and hundreds more like them.
The Bible says that, in Christ, we are new creatures. As addicts, we must remind ourselves that transformation (sanctification) is the process of a lifetime. Recovery is a maturing process–not an event. Expecting our healing to be instant and miraculous can, at best, limit our recovery to mere abstinence as compared to genuine sobriety or, at worst, lead to discouragement, depression, or death–not to mention loss of self-respect, status, security, and valued relationships.
God has given us a remedial program of character development called the Twelve Steps. These simple, strategic, sequential steps are harmonious with Scripture. They guide us, over time, from justification to sanctification, from mere abstinence to genuine sobriety (social, emotional, and spiritual maturity). When these steps are practiced as a way of life, we are transformed by God’s grace into mature adults with a gentle spirit and a winsome Christian witness.
Gerald May once said that he was grateful for his addictions because they brought him to his knees. I echo that sentiment. My compulsions (inherited and cultivated tendencies to evil) brought me to my knees and led me to Alcoholics Anonymous (the meetings, steps, and sponsors that helped me discover who I am, what I do, and how I affect the people around me as well as who God is, what He does, and how He impacts my life and the lives of those I love). For this I am eternally grateful!