"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”
1 Peter 5:8
The word sober in our passage today is translated from the Greek word néphó which means, be sober, abstain from wine[1] or be alert and vigilant. Drugs and alcohol make you anything but alert and vigilant. They leave you vulnerable, easily manipulated and inattentive. They leave you with the inability to make sound or good decisions, which inevitably leads to bad decisions.
My precious wife Sharee is the Program Manager of Kari’s Home for Women, which is a Bible-based discipleship program for recovering addicts.[2] It is a 6 month program that teaches the all sufficiency of our Lord Jesus Christ. The best treatment for a recovering addict is to develop their relationship with Christ, and as that relationship grows, and Biblical scripture and the Holy Spirit becomes their guiding force, the addiction diminishes. Continued involvement with a good Bible believing and Bible teaching church, personal Bible study and prayer will maintain that preeminence of Christ in their lives.
The women attending the program at Kari’s Home have an uphill battle ahead of them. They start that battle before they arrive at Kari’s home by realizing their addiction and seeking help. Once sober they seek reinforcing treatment through Kari’s Home to help them cope with the possibility of relapse. Part of this treatment is to identify and diminish the characteristic behavior traits that addicts develop. According to Narconon, they exhibit 5 characteristic traits: they lie, they manipulate, they engage in criminal activities, they shift blame and they become abusive.[3] These traits can be subtle or overt. For instance, abusive behavior might include neglecting the care of their children, and criminal activities might range from buying illegal drugs to robbing people to buy drugs, or doctor shopping to try to get prescription drugs.[4] Another trait is escalating use. It always starts with using that first drug or drinking that first alcoholic beverage and then it escalates until the addict is out of control.
Above and beyond the addicts gradually developed characteristics that contribute to their own downfall, the true adversary of the addict is the devil, whom “as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour”. The devil has vast tools to manipulate and deceive people. He is the father of all lies and quite frankly, a pain in the hind-end. The best defense anyone can obtain is a personal relationship with Christ, personal Bible study and prayer. Sure, even a Bible believing Christian can relapse into addiction. They are human after all. Fallen, broken, sinful humans can fail even if their walk with Christ is strong. The difference is they know the enemy and they know the way back out of addiction through Christ, church attendance and involvement, personal Bible study and prayer.
If you or someone you know has an addiction, first they need to realize that they need help. Second, they need to seek help to break the addiction. Third, after they are sober, they need to seek a Bible-based aftercare program like Kari’s Home for Women. Christ is the only lasting answer and He is all sufficient.
To donate your financial support to Kari’s Home for Women you can go to: https://connect.egiving.com/where-most-needed340/karis-home-for-women-inc
References:
[1] Strong's Exhaustive Concordance: Greek 3525. νήφω (néphó) -- to be sober, to abstain from wine. (n.d.). Retrieved November 18,2017 from http://biblehub.com/strongs/greek/3525.htm
[2] Kari's Home for Women : Home. (n.d.). Retrieved November 18, 2017 from https://www.karishome.org/
[3] undefined. (2017). The 5 Most Common Behaviour Traits of an Addict. In Narconon. Retrieved November 18, 2017, from http://www.narconon.org/blog/drug-addiction/5-common-behavior-traits-addict/.
[4] Long, L. (April 15 2000). Addiction: Part II. Identification and Management of the Drug-Seeking Patient. In American Family Physician. Retrieved November 18, 2017, from http://www.aafp.org/afp/2000/0415/p2401.html.