By Secretary General Nicolaj Wibe
Addiction can be devastatingly life-destroying. Marriages have been destroyed, jobs lost and tragic accidents have happened because of people's addictions. Alcohol and drugs; once they take hold in your body as something you shell garden, it can be incredibly difficult to be set free again. Professional help may be needed.
But there are other things you can become deeply addicted to: porn, games, sugar, screens, smoking, mobile phones and exercise. The list can easily be extended.
Control tab
There can be many different factors that drive a person into addiction: loneliness, bad parents, complexes in the mind, work, etc.
There is a difference between a habit and an addiction. A bad habit is still in a place where you can put it away without too much pain. An addiction, on the other hand, takes control and it's very difficult to stop. Because losing control is the road to the ditch. It ends badly. If you have an addiction that is causing you to lose control, you need to seek help the first chance you get.
Stene for bread
In Denmark we have a saying that goes like this: "To give stones for bread". It means giving worthless rubbish instead of something valuable and rich in content. Two examples:
Imagine if you entered a city and suffered from terrible thirst, but there is no water anywhere. You can get oil, cream, ointment, ointment, powder for this and that, but there is no water anywhere. Stene for bread!
Imagine you come to church with a troubled heart and grief. In church, you are told that you are good enough as you are, that the grief will pass and you just need to have a therapeutic conversation. But you don't get a word about God. Stene for bread!
If you are in an unhealthy and life-destroying addiction, you don't need stones for bread, you need real and in-depth help. Don't hesitate to get started, and the first step could be telling a trusted friend about your addiction.
Possible help
Giving stones for bread has its origins in the Gospel of Matthew in the Bible, where Jesus says: "Which of you will give his son a stone when he asks for bread?" Well, no one would give a stone to a child who is hungry. It would be an insult to the child.
In the same place, Jesus says that God is ready to give good (and thus valuable) gifts to those who ask him. Jesus does not give stones for bread. He will never answer a prayer wrong.
Most people in unhealthy addictions find it incredibly difficult to seek help. It's humiliating, can be expensive and can feel like a defeat. But what is the alternative? It's falling into a deep ditch. Boom out.
Jesus can certainly help a person out of addiction. But I suspect that he would rather help a person out of addiction by pushing them towards getting the deep help they need through other people. Maybe a professional therapist, a priest or a really good friend.
If you have a super bad habit or addiction, asking Jesus for help can be a good first solution. He never gives stones for bread.