NorthStar Community Daily Devotional

June 7

Scripture focus: So, my friends, this is something like what has taken place with you. When Christ died he took that entire rule-dominated way of life down with him and left it in the tomb, leaving you free to "marry" a resurrection life and bear "offspring" of faith for God. For as long as we lived that old way of life, doing whatever we felt we could get away with, sin was calling most of the shots as the old law code hemmed us in. And this made us all the more rebellious. In the end, all we had to show for it was miscarriages and stillbirths. But now that we're no longer shackled to that domineering mate of sin, and out from under all those oppressive regulations and fine print, we're free to live a new life in the freedom of God. Romans 7:4-6 The Message

Addiction creates an environment of resistance to change that is rich with paradox.

One the one hand, when each of us comes face-to-face with our addictions of choice, we try and fail multiple times in our quest for freedom.

It’s easy to believe the line, “I can’t handle it.”

Conversely, if we manage to succeed for a short time, we think, “I can do this!”

I was driving in my car listening to the Dr. Laura show when a caller asked the following question. “Dr. Laura, my alcoholic wife wants to know when she can come home? I drew the line and told her she couldn’t continue to live with me and drink, so she chose to drink and moved out of our house. Now she’s stopped drinking and is ready to move back home. I am feeling ambivalent about taking her back.”

“How long has she been sober?” Dr. Laura asked.

“One week.” He replied.

“Well, after she’s been sober five years, tell her you’ll be most happy to have a conversation about her moving back home. In the meantime, continue to get counseling, talk with her, work on your issues both separately and as a couple. But you need to know that she can sustain recovery before you hastily invite her back into the family home.”

The duplicitous and scandalous tactics that the brain uses to keep an addict in bondage to their addiction is so extensive that freedom is a journey involving many steps. May we offer grace to ourselves and others as we patiently seek God’s healing power.

Dr. Laura was, I think, trying to give this husband a picture of the systemic and sneaky ways addiction tries to call the shots. One week isn’t enough time to insure that a victory dance is in order.




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