In the 21st century, when advanced imaging technology allows us to watch the addicted brain at work and cutting edge science promises high tech means to manage addiction symptoms by altering the brain, when the current treatment method already invokes the help of a higher power, why do we say that to recover fully from addiction, people first must come to know and love God? What more could God possibly add to improve the addicted person’s chance of recovery?
The answer lies in understanding just who God is.
Were we to list all that we know God to be, there would be no end. But two truths answer the immediate question, what’s God got to do with people recovering fully from addiction; with their becoming whole people, enjoying life addiction free?
- God is the Creator.
- God is our Father.
It’s that simple.
I heard a prominent pediatric neurosurgeon explain why he prayed before each surgery, saying, Well, God created everything, and so He knows how everything works. I believe equally important is that only He knows why, for what purpose He intended everything, as it was created.
We need to remember this as we search for “what’s wrong” with someone’s brain to lead them to harmful addictions, and pause to ask, for what purpose might it have been made this way? And before we turn to the experts and ask them to try this or that latest treatment, perhaps even alter the person’s brain in an effort to manage their symptoms, we first need to turn to God and ask if there is something positive – perhaps even wonderful – that their brain is uniquely equipped for, that they can choose to direct, no matter how badly it’s been abused, to new and highly rewarding ambitions.
Because God is our Father, we can trust that He loves us unconditionally. Even when we horribly misuse all that He’s given us, even when we ignore, deny or possibly grow to hate Him; after we’ve cut-off everything and everyone good from our lives, He remains our loving Father, and through all of our mess, He has never left us. There is a reason that when people face danger, terrible fear or even death, they call out to God. At that moment, when they know the situation has advanced beyond the human capability to manage, God is still there, waiting.
Only as people grow to know God as their Creator and loving Father, can they begin to understand, and truly believe, that the shambles of their past can be left behind, that they need not carry the debris, be labeled or restrained by it any longer. Only as they (re) develop a loving and trusting relationship with Him, can they be ready to build a sound, reliable foundation of who they are and choose to be. And only on that foundation can they be equipped to use all the gifts and materials they’ve been given, to construct new and highly rewarding lives, free of addiction.
It’s not complicated. But it’s not easy.