For the past three years I have been Biblically counseling addicted men at a Christian rehabilitation center in Vermont. I see about ten men a week and have seen the ravages of addiction first hand. Addiction, and here I mean the addiction of all things, has taken hold of men in a powerfully evil way. Families have been torn apart, relationships destroyed, and men have sunk to lower levels of pain and hopelessness that brings them back to their addiction. The only hope has been Jesus Christ and the Gospel of Redemption.

Every man I have seen in the past three years have the same bad root running through them, they are unable to deal with the mental and physical pain that they have experienced through abuse, addicted parents and a childhood without God. It has been through Christ that they have new hearts and a hope for the future.

New hearts bring a new desire to serve Christ, but old emotions and the lingering shame and guilt always stands in the way of a new life. Consequences from the past holds them prisoner. My desire has been to point to Jesus, to Biblically guide them to the rejection of shame and guilt through Christ working in me.

My point in writing down these experiences is to help those who counsel the addicted, to begin to understand the journey that involves setbacks, tears and pain. When I started this I realized that I needed to be more intent on discovering the inward factors that brought about the addiction in the first place. The past is painful, it must be visited but ultimately left in the past.

²² To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. ²³ I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. 1 Cor. 9:22-23

This world is constantly groaning under the weight of sin (Rom. 8:22) we are people who have been sinned against and have sinned against others. Parents divorce, fathers leave their families, generations of addiction provide a fertile ground for children to begin the see addiction as the way out. There have been hundreds of different stories as to the cause of people’s addictions, but there is one thread that every man has said to me, a thread of emotional pain, helplessness and an ungodly way to deal with that. It has only been through God’s grace that these men have been able to see the hope that He brings, the hope that unlocks the chains that still try to hold them back.

These snippets of my experiences I’ll try to publish in the coming months. I have been helped greatly by many counselors including Ed Welch and others. Ed’s book “A Banquet in the Grave” has been very helpful. My prayer for others who counsel the addicted is that these posts will give some assistance.

Looking forward to sharing more as I can.

Soli Deo Gloria