Freedom is Possible

Have you seen the commercials to get people to stop smoking?

A lady gives tips about how to get dressed for the day. A man gives the tip to shower facing away from the water so you don't get water down the hole in your chest. A woman suggests recording your voice, singing a lullaby or reading a children's book, so that your grandchildren will know what your voice used to sound like. Another man tells how his smoking took his wife.

I have no doubt of the earnestness of these people's pleas.

But do scare tactics break us from addictions?

I remember in elementary school the American Lung Association came to our school with a trailer. In the trailer was a display of lungs. The healthy ones and the ones that had been affected by cigarette smoke.

Now maybe that did keep a few people away from smoking. But not all. If it had been effective, the tobacco  companies would have gone out of business by now.

And if it's not cigarette smoking, there's a long list of addictions.

Drugs. Porn. Work. Food. Fashion. Violence. Attention. Hobbies. Money. Power. Sex. Vacations.

Why is that? Why are we so easily addicted? Why do we accept them? Why do we laugh at some of them? Why do we turn our noses up at some of them, yet follow our own?

The addiction is not the problem. The addiction is just the symptom.

We want something. We know that something is missing. We are hoping to find it in one of those avenues.

And if you look closely enough, it's all about me. I want something and I want this substance, or these people, or this job, to give me what I want.

It's a vicious cycle, because those things will not satisfy. A drug addict is never satisfied. A workaholic works more. Violence becomes more intense and graphic. More money is spent on the hunting gear.

And yet it's not satisfying. It's still empty. It's not even really fun anymore. 

"I don't get no satisfaction."

But maybe next time. Maybe this trip. Maybe this job. Maybe this partner.

Is there a solution?

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36).

True freedom comes only through the Son, Jesus Christ.

And it's not some magic spell that Jesus says to remove your desires. It's not a series of prayers or beatings or exorcisms that will drive the addictions out.

It's satisfaction. 

Jesus sets you free by replacing those desires with desires to please Him, not yourself. Jesus sets you free by satisfying your needs. Jesus sets you free by turning your selfishness into generosity.