Struggling with Addictions.
Money is running out, but the craving is strong, and your mind scrambles for a way to get your fix. You glance at your empty bank account and at the same time realize that your closest friends have all vanished from your life, tired of dealing with your addiction... or too buried by their own.
Picking up your phone, you scroll through the names, hoping that one of your old contacts would take compassion on you and loan you some money. "Why do you need the money?" they ask... And you desperate for the cash, sneak out a little white lie. "Food". Which was probably true. After all, you hadn't really eaten a good meal in a while, and God knows, that you had no money to buy food, let alone the desperately desired fix....
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I have gotten an inkling that those I've interacted with on the streets, and even on occasion by those I know, are struggling with addictions. I've found that often, those struggling with addiction will appeal to us with a request for their basic needs - food, shelter, clothes, and maybe even work... But within them is a desperation to satisfy their addiction. By handing them money, I don't believe that we are really helping them, but rather aiding their addiction.
So what can we do?
I implore you to ask yourself, what is the basic need behind an addiction? Perhaps I am too quick to come to a conclusion, and please give me your thoughts, but I wonder if maybe the basic need behind addictions is a need for Jesus Christ. A need for God's unconditional love that was sent down to earth as a sacrifice for our sins, so that we could have relationship with HIM. The basic need of love.
God made a way for us to have relationship with him, and by grace, we can be saved! Saved, yes, even from addictions!
Now, I know that often, that isn't easily accepted... but I do know that love is rarely rejected. So for me, I hope I always respond to those around me, those on the streets, those who call me searching for money, with love. The unconditional love that God has freely given to me.
Freely you have received, so freely give...
If you are struggling with addictions, I hope you hear this - There is hope and unconditional love waiting for you!
Picking up your phone, you scroll through the names, hoping that one of your old contacts would take compassion on you and loan you some money. "Why do you need the money?" they ask... And you desperate for the cash, sneak out a little white lie. "Food". Which was probably true. After all, you hadn't really eaten a good meal in a while, and God knows, that you had no money to buy food, let alone the desperately desired fix....
===============================================
I have gotten an inkling that those I've interacted with on the streets, and even on occasion by those I know, are struggling with addictions. I've found that often, those struggling with addiction will appeal to us with a request for their basic needs - food, shelter, clothes, and maybe even work... But within them is a desperation to satisfy their addiction. By handing them money, I don't believe that we are really helping them, but rather aiding their addiction.
So what can we do?
I implore you to ask yourself, what is the basic need behind an addiction? Perhaps I am too quick to come to a conclusion, and please give me your thoughts, but I wonder if maybe the basic need behind addictions is a need for Jesus Christ. A need for God's unconditional love that was sent down to earth as a sacrifice for our sins, so that we could have relationship with HIM. The basic need of love.
God made a way for us to have relationship with him, and by grace, we can be saved! Saved, yes, even from addictions!
Now, I know that often, that isn't easily accepted... but I do know that love is rarely rejected. So for me, I hope I always respond to those around me, those on the streets, those who call me searching for money, with love. The unconditional love that God has freely given to me.
Freely you have received, so freely give...
If you are struggling with addictions, I hope you hear this - There is hope and unconditional love waiting for you!
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