Addiction like bindweed

 "I struggled with fear of rejection, "Cindy confessed, "and shame because I could not meet standards I felt were imposed on me or I imposed on myself.  I was intimidated and feared punishment and so there was always more shame."

Cindy participates in Celebrate Recovery at Kent Covenant Church and intended to retire from active ministry when she realized she was missing so very much in being mentored and mentoring others.


She participated in the fourth step inventory several times and grieved over abandonment and personal co-dependency.  She looked to those appearing to be more needy to fulfill her.

Cindy realized a lifetime of family sicknesses around addiction leading her through a season of forgiveness.  She found herself playing old tapes in her mind about painful memories and surrendered to the Holy Spirit. As a result, Cindy established safe boundaries around family relationships for her needs.


                              Vesting in recovery

As family members cope with debilitating addictive patterns, they often plead with their addicted loved ones to actively engage in recovery.  They are earnest about their family member's real engagement in the recovery process.  One family recently termed this as being vested in dealing with the needs and habits confronted.  Addicted personalities live in denial.  They do not believe they need:
 

• counseling
• therapy
• in or out-patient treatment
• recovery groups
• help from others beyond empty promises

Addicted people act as if they can stop whenever they want.  They cannot and do not stop by themselves. They drag their families down with them in what some call "crazy-making," sociopath, complicated family sicknesses over prolonged seasons, even lifetimes.

Addicted people are not committed to their own recovery, naturally.  Addiction causes brain rewiring and is a sin disorder.  Evil choices are made offending God and hurting themselves and people closest to them.  Addiction is both a sin and a physiological disorder. 

Some secular groups offering in and out-patient treatment focus solely on the brain rewiring along with related physiological issues and do not even address the sin factor.  Some spiritual groups only focus on the sin dilemma.  

If it is simply a sin disorder, the addicted person should repent of their moral failure and begin the process of productive living. Led by the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Paul spoke to this dilemma.


For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.   ~Romans 8:13-14

 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.   ~Colossians 3:5-8  

Addictive patterns compared to bindweed 

Confronting sin requires active participation.  We put to death the deeds of the body, what is fleshly or earthly.  These steps are led by the Holy Spirit.  We put them away from us.  Sin infects us like bindweed.

Another set of life questions...

For how long will I continue to hand-pull the bindweed coming under the fence and into the planting beds of my life experience? If it were only in my yard, could I ever win? Or, if I play a loop of "It's a Small World After All" directly against the ground, will the bindweed wither and die? 

More than an afternoon of hand-pulling in my planting beds is required around bindweed-like inflicting sin in my life. 

flower

Bindweed is a perennial plant producing a vine with stems 2-4' long and sometimes hairy where new growth occurs. The flowers are white to pink and trumpet-shaped and produce indeterminately throughout the year.

"Calling it 'Morning Glory' is the work of a truly evil person," insists Dennis Hincamp of the Utah State University Extension Service.

root system

The Oregon State Extension Service reports field bindweed spreads by seed and a deep, extensive root system. Scientists have reported that seed from bindweed can persist in soil for up to 60 years and its roots can grow up to 30 feet deep. 

vines wrap around plants

Normally, the first signs of bindweed are thread-like vines that wrap themselves tightly around plants or other upward objects.  Eventually, these vines will grow leaves, which are shaped much like an arrowhead.

Single attempts to remove bindweed roots will not be successful. When controlling bindweed, the first thing to remember is gardeners will need to choose multiple control methods before successful eradication is accomplished.
 

                      Eradication of sin

J. I. Packer

"I never get to the end of mortifying sin," J. I. Packer writes,  "because sin in my heart is still marauding, even though it is not dominant. Sin is constantly expressing itself in new disorderly desires, as bindweed is constantly expressing itself in fresh shoots and fresh blooms. 

"Once bindweed has established itself in your garden or hedge it is very difficult to get out because it is always extending itself under the surface of the soil. 

"Sin in the heart is rather like that. But as blooms of sin break surface and I recognize them, I am called to — indeed deep down in my heart I want to — go into action with this prayer procedure for draining the life out of them. 

"I think this is a discipline every Christian has to wake up to right at the beginning of the Christian life and continue with as long as we are in this world.  I owe more, I think, to John Owen than to any other theologian, ancient or modern, and I am sure I owe more to his little book on mortification than to anything else he wrote.” 

How do we overcome nagging sins that infect our hearts and wrap around our lives and loved ones around us? What steps do we take to deal with the physiological disorders?  What kinds of real help are we willing to be vested in?

12 steps and Scriptures from Celebrate Recovery

1. We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behaviors. That our lives had become unmanageable.  Romans 7:18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
2. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. Philippians 2:13 For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God. Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Lamentations 3:40 Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being, the exact nature of our wrongs. James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. James 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove all our shortcomings. 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all. Luke 6:31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.
9. Made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. Matthew 5:23-24 Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it. 1 Corinthians 10:12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and power to carry that out. Colossians 3:16a Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.
12. Having had a spiritual experience as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and practice these principles in all our affairs. Galatians 6:1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.