The Faces of Addiction - part 3 In previous posts Ive written on two of the faces of addiction; those ingredients that go into addictions power. In each of these, Jesus meets the addict as only he can, and in ways that secular therapy alone can not bring freedom. Ive written that for the first face, pain based trauma and/or the emptiness of the human heart without Christ, Jesus comes to fill and heal. For the second face, the lies that arise to explain our life, there is Jesus the teacher, one who brings the truth that sets us free. Teen Challenge partners with Jesus liberating work by providing healing prayer and discipleship. The third face are the behaviors and lifestyle that develop around the addicts continued and downward spiral of seeking comfort and distraction from pain in substances that can not satisfy. These behaviors support addiction. They often break off relationship with family and friends while, at the same time, connecting the addict with those who are living a similar destructive lifestyle. To this face of addiction Jesus comes as our elder brother, the Son of our Father, the one who joins us and forms us into a new family of brothers and sisters. Like all families, there are behaviors that are expected - and those that are rejected. Christ also teaches us new ways that we relate to one another - speaking the truth in love, finding nurture, encouragement and accountability in community. Teen Challenge provides a place where students leave behind the patterns and people that supported their addiction. They are able to put aside distractions from the world while they focus on their relationship with God and his family. Rules and structure discipline one to think of their actions in terms beyond self-interest and to learn submission to Godly authority. Being a long term, residential program gives the student the needed time for the patterns of Christian relationship and lifestyle to be discovered and to grow, while the attachments to the world are weakened. Teen Challenges mission is to work with Jesus as he creates the kind of community that prepares men to connect with their Christian family as they re-enter the world. Pastor Jim
Posted on: Sat, 09 Nov 2013 20:19:19 +0000
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