This is the first podcast in a nine part series entitled “Overcoming Addiction.” For the various counseling options available from this material visit www.summitrdu.com/counseling.
- The “Overcoming Addiction” seminar is also available in video format.
NOTE: Many people have asked how they can get a copy of the seminar notebook referenced in this verbal presentation. Summit members can pick up a copy of the notebook in the church office. For those outside the Summit family, you can request a copy from Summit’s admin over counseling at counseling@summitrdu.com (please note this is an administrative account; no individual or family counsel is provided through e-mail).
“I Want to be Free… Sometimes and Sometimes Not”
ADMIT I have a struggle I cannot overcome without God.
“Not overcoming my addiction and accompanying deceit would be more costly than anything God would take me through in the pursuit of His freedom. God is good for having brought me to this point of admitting my bondage.”
Memorize: Romans 7:18-19 (ESV), “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” As you memorize this passage reflect upon these key points:
- “For I know” – These verses are the Bible’s “introduction to addiction and human experience” passage.
- “Desire to do what is right” – There are times when you want to be free from your addiction.
- “Not the ability” – Our sin nature is stronger than our personal will to be good apart from God’s grace.
- “I do not the good I want” – There are times when you don’t want to be free from your addiction.
- “Keep on doing” – The result of these truths is that our addiction continues until we fully surrender.
Teaching Notes
“I woke up and knew I couldn’t take another drink. But I also knew I couldn’t live without one (p. 15)!” John Baker in Celebrate Recovery: Leader’s Guide
“This is, of course, what is utterly puzzling about addiction – that we should repeatedly and compulsively do that which we know is damaging us (p. 12).” Kent Dunnington in Addiction and Virtue: Beyond the Models of Disease and Choice
“I am not being flippant when I say that all of us suffer from addiction. Nor am I reducing the meaning of addiction. I mean in all truth that the psychological, neurological, and spiritual dynamics of full-fledged addiction are actively at work within every human being (p. 3)… It is as if these severely addicted people have played out, on an extreme scale, a drama that all human beings experience more subtly and more covertly (p. 43).” Gerald May in Addiction & Grace
“Should addiction be understood as a disease or as a choice? This is the most longstanding and contentious question in addiction research. The question, however, rests on a false dichotomy. The false dichotomy arises from a failure or an inability to conceive of a genuine space between compulsion and choice, between, in philosophical terms, determinism and voluntarism… The philosophical category that covers this terrain is the category of habit (p. 31).” Kent Dunnington in Addiction and Virtue: Beyond the Models of Disease and Choice
“Actually, the addiction becomes a constant companion, a friend, and something to count on for a predictable effect or outcome. Some commentators on addiction describe it as a love relationship because of the intensity of the bond and the commitment to the behavior (p. 61).” Carlo DiClemente in Addictions and Change
“We are as sick as our secrets (p. 59)… Remember it is always better to tell the ugly truth rather than a beautiful lie (p. 60)… Truth often hurts. But it’s the lie that leaves the scars (p. 79).” John Baker in Celebrate Recovery: Leader’s Guide
“Perfection is not your goal; trust is. When your aim is perfection, you are actually headed away from God because you are trusting in your own acts rather than trusting in God (p. 36).” Ed Welch in Crossroads: A Step-by-Step Guide Away from Addiction
Other podcasts in the G4-addiction series are available at:
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