3 Reasons Why Addiction is Killing Your Witness

Skeletons in the closet – we all have them. Secrets are part of life, and some secrets are worse than others.

Some people suffer from anger issues, some are alcoholics, for others it might be a pornography addiction and for some it is a drug addiction. Unfortunately, several people in the world are suffering from a drug addiction, and more so recently due to the outrageous opioid epidemic sweeping our world today.

In reality, your addiction might not be that bad – you still go to work, hang out with your family and attend church weekly. As long as you are functional, what harm could it really be doing?

Right? Wrong.

Dig beneath the surface. Drug addiction is not a victimless crime and it does come with consequences.

While you might continue to witness to others about your Savior, you are secretly killing your witness as you sit in your comfort zone and struggle with drug addiction:

1. You are not being truthful.

While some people may not know you are ill and only portraying that you are not struggling, you are lying to them. You cannot truly allow yourself to open up and share the love of Christ with them without being honest.

2. You are missing out on the greatness witness story of all time.

Addiction can be cured with God – through Him all things are possible, after all. One of the greatest tools of your witness is waiting for you, it is right in front of you. What an incredible story it would be to share with others how God has worked in your life and helped you recover from addiction. However, by hiding that you even have a problem, you are missing out on that witness.

Witness

3. You are actively living in sin.

Your witness is damaged when you are actively living in sin with no intentions of repentance. Sin is normal, it is part of life and we all do it at several points in our lives, however, we should always be looking to improve and get away from it. You should not continue to knowingly live a sinful life while trying to teach others how to escape sin.

For just a moment, take a step back and consider how drug addiction is affecting your life and your witness. It might actually be a good time to consider how to change your life before trying to help others change theirs.

Going Through the Motions: Worship, Addiction, Repent, Repeat

As humans, and as Christians, it can be easy to get into the habit of doing things. In fact, statistics show that it only takes about 21 consecutive days of doing something for it to become a habit. As we do our routine more and more, it becomes a habit. Think about your everyday life: you wake up, prepare for the day, go to work, come home, eat dinner, and go to bed – it’s that simple, that is a routine and a habit.

In our spiritual life, this is no different…

Go to church, repent, go back to our everyday life, and repeat the next week.

It can be easy to fall into the habit of repenting while you are at church, but somehow falling right back into the same sinful trap as soon as you leave. It is all part of the mask we tend to wear within the church – the mask of holiness and cleanliness. Rather than letting people know we are hurting and struggling, rather than asking them to help us, we want people to be under the impression that we are perfect.

Drug addiction is an ugly thing and one that nobody likes to talk about – especially the addict themselves.

Drug Addiction

It can poke its ugly head into our lives and destroy everything – families, friendships, and even jobs. So, this is why addicts like to keep quiet. It is as if by not telling anyone, nobody will ever know and therefore their relationships can’t be ruined. However, this is wrong.

The evil of addiction will continue to tear through you until it reaches the outside and until it starts affecting everything around you.

Many addicts struggle throughout the week, then go to church and uphold their image and composure, pray and ask God for forgiveness as the Spirit moves over them during worship, but come Monday morning, they are right back to their normal routine.

As Christians and individuals, they are just simply going through the motions. They are going through the motions of repenting to feel better, going through the motions of worshipping to uphold their image.

However, true freedom comes when you stop pretending and when you stop going through the motions. As an addict, hop off the “worship, addiction, repent, repeat” train and seek help and forgiveness. All too often people assume the skeletons in the closet will never come out, but unfortunately, they will. When they arrive unannounced, it will be much uglier.

Don’t continue to be lukewarm and repetitive, and fake. Don’t hide behind your addiction, as it is probably doing more damage than it would if you just came out and admitted you have a problem.