QT 3/10/2025 1 Cor 6:12-20, Fighting addictions

1 Corinthians 6:12–20 (ESV) —

12 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. 13 “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

 

NOTE: There are many addictions in life: drugs, alcohol, and pornography are the most prevalent. But anything can be an addiction: eating (leads to gluttony), playing computer games (eats up time), watching television (leads to binging and wasting time) and even work (pride in accomplishments and more power). Sexual sins are discussed in the passage above, leading to an actual physical union with another. I believe that ever increasing sexuality and lust leads to homosexuality and other perverse practices.

 

So what do we do when we live in a society that is hyper-addiction fueled and makes it easy to address these cravings? In other passages in the bible, the writers talk about taking off and putting on, in relationship to certain sins. In other words, you usually just can't stop an addiction, you need to take other steps to replace the addiction. Obviously, you need to pray and ask God for help, repenting of the addiction, but you also need to replace the activity with something else. A person who has been stealing is supposed to do something useful with their hands. A hobby, a ministry, a retreat, a person, can be good substitutes. But each of us need to figure out what we can put on to help us put off some particular sin/addiction.

 

Lastly, it takes a while to change a habit, which is what an addiction becomes. It might take many repeated failures, repenting, and starting over again. But we must never give in, we must never say it is okay or that's "just me."

 

PONDER:

1. Do I have any addictions in my life?
2. What can I add to my life as I remove the addiction from my life?

 

PRAYER: Father, we can't remove these addictions in our own strength. We need the power of your Holy Spirit that resides within the temple of our body to help us. Give us wisdom and resilience to fight with you against our sinful flesh.