A Qualifier on Substance Abuse

I just rejected another comment . . . . one that linked to a website on substance abuse. I don't feel comfortable using my blog to link to anything that I don't know I'd want a friend to view, and there is no way for me to investigate this site or blogger before I click "publish", so I clicked "reject" instead. Sorry!

I will say this: I have never used any illegal drugs nor really abused alcohol or any other substance except for caffeine. (I am addicted to caffeine, and if my supply ever dries up I will suffer a few weeks of headaches and lethargy and grouchiness. I moderate my intake consciously, but this is one of the addictions in my life that I choose to tolerate rather than choosing to learn to abstain from it completely. This is based largely on the belief that God is okay with that in these circumstances of legality, availability, and effects upon me. But I will cop to the fact that I love caffeine from just about any liquid source.)

Not having ever tried something like cocaine or heroin or meth or even marijuana, I recognize that I have no knowledge of what it is like to fight that kind of powerful addiction. My caffeine addiction just can't compete. However, I have people in my life who are decades into recovery from those kind of addictions, and they say that -- however much I am a "normie" in regard to alcohol -- I still exhibit and voice the same issues that drive any addictive behavior, as do most humans. And the ones who don't exhibit or voice those kinds of issues just hide it well, and may be much worse! It is the ones who end up addicted to something that is highly socially unacceptable and that really messes up their lives that have the quickest route to recognizing the things in life that really matter, and in walking into the life of Kingdom Living.

I am comfortable recommending Teen Challenge as a resource for those who are fighting substance addiction, and am also comfortable recommending AA and NA. All three can be found with a simple web search if you need help to recover from substance abuse.

For all the rest of us . . . .

May we recognize the things in life that we abuse by making them fill a role they should not fill or by allowing them to rule us rather than serve us in serving God's purposes in us and through us . . .

And may we recover from our addictions by surrendering to the Real Triune God and learning today to live in His Kingdom -- right here, right now.