What can make me stop drugs and alcohol?

Most recovery programs use pain and consequences to improve a person’s motivation to quit using drugs and alcohol. Pain and consequences come in many varieties. There are legal pain and consequences, health pain and consequences, and relationship pain and consequences. School and work can also deliver pain and consequences. Even Religion threatens its own set of pain and consequences.

But, I want to suggest that mercy and grace are more effective motivators.

My suggestion will probably shock some people who are familiar with the culture of the recovery community. In some corners of this community, it is assumed that grace and mercy only enable the addict to continue using their drug of choice.

There is probably some merit to that idea. But consider these verses:

11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. [Titus: 4:11-14]

For the Christian, pain and consequences aren’t the most effective motivation to say no to drugs and alcohol. But how does the grace of God teach us to say “No” to ungodliness? That is a question worth pondering. The answer to that question holds a key to being able to break the cycle of addiction.

Here are some thoughts from participants in a recent Resilient Recovery Group:

• Beating yourself up with guilt and shame doesn’t work. We’ve tried this strategy over and over again. We’ve reminded ourselves of what we’ve done and we’ve thought intensely about the pain and consequences. Other people have reminded us of what we’ve done they have demanded that we focus on the pain and consequences. Yet we have not broken our bad habits. Shame and guilt do not work.

• The grace of God breaks the cycle. The cycle of addiction is one in which the pain and consequences motivate us to use our drug of choice once again. When we feel lousy about ourselves and our situation, our drug of choice offers an easy escape. The escape is so easy and habitual that we go back to using our drug of choice on autopilot. We may not notice that we are headed to a relapse. Sometimes we have this strange experience of noticing that we are relapsing, but we feel powerless to stop it. Having our sin and shame wiped away breaks this cycle. It gives us a fresh start. We can find our escape in Jesus, not in a drug.

• The grace of God makes guilt and shame pointless. We sometimes think that our guilt, shame, and self-loathing will motivate God to forgive us. But, God is not motivated by our repentance. In fact, he says that our greatest work is like filthy rags to Him. Instead, God is motivated by His mercy and by Christ’s work. This means that our pathetic attempts to get God to forgive us are pointless. We simply need to ask for his mercy. And here is the powerful part. If we don’t need to do anything to receive this grace, we don’t have to be weighed down by our own guilt and shame. We are free to live a new life.

• The grace of God means we have hope. The outcome of our struggle with drugs and alcohol isn’t dependent on us. If it were, we’d have little hope. Our lives are evidence of the fact that we cannot control our behavior. Because the outcome of our struggle with drugs and alcohol is dependent on God’s grace, we can have hope. Even when we can’t imagine how victory is possible, God can and does win. He beats addiction when we can’t. We have the evidence in the empty tomb.

 Perhaps the best thing we can do in recovery isn’t to focus on our pain and consequences. We might do better to focus on God and his grace to us. The Bible refers to this conscious focusing on God as “magnifying” God—making Him and his mercy larger in our field of vision.

In Resilient Recovery Groups, we practice magnifying God in every session. (We first confess our pain and consequences in order to have their sting removed by the forgiveness of God). We then discuss the mercy and grace of God, marveling over it—magnifying it in our hearts and thoughts.

Through this process of magnifying God and His grace, we are being taught to say “No” to our drug of choice.

If you are interested in attending an online Resilient Recovery Group, please visit www.restinjesus.org to sign up for the next one.