AM I DOOMED WITH MY WEAKNESS OR ADDICTION?
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans: Is ek met my swakheid of verslawing verdoem?”
Someone spoke to me about an addiction in their life, and I share my reply to you:
First, I want to tell you that, according to my understanding of the Bible, of course you are not doomed or damned. Not even if you’re a murderer on your way out of this life:
Luke 23:38-43
38Now there was also an inscription above Him: “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
39One of the criminals who had been hanged [on a cross beside Him] kept hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us [from death]!” 40But the other one rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41“We are suffering justly, because we are getting what we deserve for what we have done; but this Man has done nothing wrong.”
42And he was saying, “Jesus, [please] remember me when You come into Your kingdom!”
43Jesus said to him, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
Of course, this does not mean that because I am addicted to something, or have a sin in my life, that I can just continue like this. No, I must work on it. I must get rid of it with God’s help.
Certainly, God want to help me, and what He did, was to send His Son to take upon Him the price I had to pay, namely the death penalty:
JOHN 3:16-17
16“For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life.
17For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world], but that the world might be saved through Him.
Now if I truly repent of what I have done, yes, even of what I still do because I am addicted to it, and I take it to God, I can take it to Him while rejoicing, because I remember what God said through the prophet Isaiah:
Isaiah 1:18-20
18“Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the LORD.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be like wool.19“If you are willing and obedient,
You shall eat the best of the land;20But if you refuse and rebel,
You shall be devoured by the sword.”
For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
This does not mean that I can continue to sin because God is now so merciful. Paul put it this way:
Romans 6:1-12
Believers Are Dead To Sin, Alive To God
1What shall we say [to all this]? Should we continue in sin and practice sin as a habit so that [God’s gift of] grace may increase and overflow? 2Certainly not! How can we, the very ones who died to sin, continue to live in it any longer? 3Or are you ignorant of the fact that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4We have therefore been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory and power of the Father, we too might walk habitually in newness of life [abandoning our old ways]. 5For if we have become one with Him [permanently united] in the likeness of His death, we will also certainly be [one with Him and share fully] in the likeness of His resurrection. 6We know that our old self [our human nature without the Holy Spirit] was nailed to the cross with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. 7For the person who has died [with Christ] has been freed from [the power of] sin.
8Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live [together] with Him, 9because we know [the self-evident truth] that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has power over Him. 10For the death that He died, He died to sin [ending its power and paying the sinner’s debt] once and for all; and the life that He lives, He lives to [glorify] God [in unbroken fellowship with Him]. 11Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin [and your relationship to it broken], but alive to God [in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.
12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts and passions.
I want to close by telling you how I look at the battle I’m fighting, and how I
look at the cross I must bear.
If satan attacks me with one of my weaknesses, then it is not pleasant, but that
also excites me because satan is not pleased with me, and I have a God who
have a lot of compassion for me.
Every time the cross I carry want to become too heavy for me, I lean and groan
under the weight, but there is also a glorious peace in my heart, because I have a God
who with great compassion that ‘put His shoulder underneath me’ and help me to carry it:
HebREW 4:13-16
13And not a creature exists that is concealed from His sight, but all things are open and exposed, and revealed to the eyes of Him with whom we have to give account.
14Inasmuch then as we [believers] have a great High Priest who has [already ascended and] passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession [of faith and cling tenaciously to our absolute trust in Him as Savior]. 15For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize and understand our weaknesses and temptations, but One who has been tempted [knowing exactly how it feels to be human] in every respect as we are, yet without [committing any] sin. 16Therefore let us [with privilege] approach the throne of grace [that is, the throne of God’s gracious favor] with confidence and without fear, so that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find [His amazing] grace to help in time of need [an appropriate blessing, coming just at the right moment].
I will not go to hell because I am addicted to one or the other, like for example smoking. I will not go to hell because I have a weakness in my life, such as a temper.
I may end up in hell for not trying to do anything about it but pampered it.
Because at the end of the day there is something that stand out like a pole above water:
1COR 3:16-17
16Do you not know and understand that you [the church] are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells [permanently] in you [collectively and individually]? 17If anyone destroys the temple of God [corrupting it with false doctrine], God will destroy the destroyer; for the temple of God is holy (sacred), and that is what you are.
1PETER 1:15-16
15But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all your conduct [be set apart from the world by your godly character and moral courage];
16because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY (set apart), FOR I AM HOLY.”
If I may put the “cherry” on the cake –
If I think that what was given to me, is just too much for me to carry, then I recall that my God in His Word is saying to me:
1 COR 10:13
13No temptation [regardless of its source] has overtaken or enticed you that is not common to human experience [nor is any temptation unusual or beyond human resistance]; but God is faithful [to His word—He is compassionate and trustworthy], and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability [to resist], but along with the temptation He [has in the past and is now and] will [always] provide the way out as well, so that you will be able to endure it [without yielding, and will overcome temptation with joy].
Then I tread upon my weakness with confidence, embrace my cross with new passion and
march into the future with a smile, because if my God think I can do it, then I can do it.
Greetings,
Sakkie
Email: bediening@sakkieparsons.co.za
Website: www.sakkieparsons.co.za
Cell: 083 457 6669
Jude 1:24-25 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy, to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
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