Addictions

A worship disorder: this is how Edward T. Welch views addictions. "Will we worship ourselves and our own desires, " he writes, "or will we worship the true God?" With this lens the author discovers far more in Scripture on addictions than passages on drunkenness. There we learn the addict's true condition: like guests at a banquet thrown by "the woman Folly, " he is already in the grave (Prov. 9:13-18). Can we not escape our addictions? If we're willing to follow Jesus, the author says we have "immense hope hope in God's forgiving grace, hope in God's love that is faithful even when we are not, and hope that God can give power so that we are no longer mastered by the addiction." Each chapter concludes with "Practical Theology, " guidance "As You Face Your Own Addictions" and "As You Help Someone Else."