I hope that you had a chance to hear Joey and Allison speak about the issue of abortion last week. They did a great job and definitely laid out the issue in a thought-provoking way. If you haven't had a chance yet, check out his blog notes.

This week I'll be speaking to you on the topic of addictions. No, this is not going to be a self-help recovery talk or look anything like a 12 step program. Those are not bad things and have helped a lot of people. But remember the premise of this series is to help you as a Christ-follower know how to engage these topics through the lens of your faith and help you as you start and participate in spiritual conversations with friends, family or whoever. We'll cover this issue from a biblical standpoint, so we'll be living in Galatians 5:1, "it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

Interpretively, Paul is speaking about several things here including the insufficiency of the Law to save us, why we don't have to be circumcised anymore as a sign of covenant, etc. This would have been important for his Jewish readers because by saying Christ has set us free, it means I am released from the pursuit of a checklist in order to be right with God. Now, I simply come to Christ and let his redeeming work take hold in me.

As we look at the topic of addictions, in teenager culture especially, it's easy to see that they can become a "yoke of slavery" in our lives; just like religious activity, misunderstanding scripture and works-based salvation. These things can be just as addictive and enslaving to us as any substance can. The goal, then, is to see that since Christ set us free to be free, we need to live free. That doesn't mean we live outside of boundaries or "do whatever we want". That's not freedom, that reckless rebellion and it can be destructive. No, we rest in the freedom of Christ knowing that in Him, I have everything I need, therefore I no longer need to puruse things that, by their nature, if I allow them, will enslave me through the master of addiction. And don't think addictions are just the easy ones to identify like drugs, pornography or alcohol. Addictions can creep into our lives in many different ways. Their source is my flesh and my tendency to sin but their existnece in my life is a result of me not resting in Christ's freedom but believing the lie that I need something else to fulfill me and give me peace. There are a lot of reasons why people turn to addictive things or do addictive things and we'll explore those tomorrow night. We'll also look at how to break addictions, specifically as Christians, and how to avoid them altogether.

I hope you can make it, I'll see you then!