Addiction, Recovery & The Resurrection
Easter is a time of revival. Whether you’re a Christian or not, this season marks change, as life blossoms again after winter. Easter reminds us of hope, new beginnings, and of course, redemption.
For those who are still struggling with addiction or are struggling with their life in recovery, you can benefit from the messages of Easter as you reflect on your life and how you can redeem yourself after a life of destruction and addiction.
The Message of Easter
Easter is in the Springtime when life blooms and the world begins its renewal. It marks new beginnings, and in the Christian sense, a time of redemption and grace.
In the Easter story, Jesus was with his friends, the disciples, during the last supper. He predicts what is going to happen, that someone is going to betray him. Peter tells him, “Not I. I’ll never do it!” However, before the rooster crows the next morning, Peter has already denied Jesus three times.
Despite this, Jesus offers grace and forgiveness. This lesson can be applied to your life in active addiction, where you may have driven your family and even God from your life as you fall deeper into addiction. If you are in recovery, you may also experience difficulties embracing some strength and foundation in your life as you reel from the wreckage of your active addiction.
Seeking Jesus, or a higher power beyond your control, in your life can help you put things into perspective. Forgive other people, and most importantly, forgive yourself. By then will you be able to have peace and be able to move forward into your new life
There is Hope In Recovery
Another takeaway from the Easter story is the fact that God, or whatever higher power you believe in, is in control. There is a bigger plan, a bigger picture for you.
Even if you feel like you’re in your darkest hours, Easter is a reminder that there is hope, there is still life.
Dealing with substance abuse and addiction can be so difficult and overwhelming that you may only see darkness, chaos and hopelessness around you. Easter is a strong reminder that though there are things we don’t see or feel yet, life has a way of working out through all trials and tribulations. Holding out hope can remind you of what your goals and dreams are. What are you working towards? What do you hope to accomplish? Reflect on what is truly working well in your life. Do those things give you hope for the future?
Hope is healing in that it can hold space, encouragement, and optimism for the future. While we may be frustrated about how one part of our life is going, we can still hold out hope for a longer-term goal. For example, we may be exhausted by the excruciating work of getting sober, but we are holding out hope that once we have fully detoxed and found stability, we will have ourselves back, and can experience a new, beautiful life. A life where anything is possible.
Hope also means that if you are “in” Christ through faith, then the old has gone and the new has come.
“if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
The old person who was enslaved to sin, who was covered in shame, who was corrupted by and powerless to sin, is dead and gone. That person has been crucified with Christ. In Christ, God does not see you or regard you as this old person anymore. God sees the true you. You are raised from the dead with Christ. You are a new creation in Christ. You are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. You are seated with Christ in the heavenly places. You are a child of God, empowered by the Spirit of God, who lives in you.
We may not “feel” this to be true all the time, but if we are “in” Christ through faith, then God says this is our new reality for all of eternity. Therefore, the Christian’s fight against addiction is the fight to recognize reality. It is fighting by faith and the power of the Holy Spirit to believe what God says is true of us “in” Christ over and above what we feel or what we are tempted to believe to the contrary. Paul says we are to “consider” or “reckon” ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. We should remind ourselves daily that we have been crucified with Christ and that it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us and that the life we now live in the flesh we live by faith in the Son of God.
So, when we talk about the “Power of Resurrection,” we aren’t just referencing the sheer power of God to raise a man from the dead. We are talking about much, much more
The Apostle Paul describes perhaps the sweetest part of the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe: the power to unite us to the person and work of Christ through faith. Everything Christ accomplished through his life, death and resurrection is ours. It has been given to us as a free gift. Those who are in Christ share in all of who He is and all of what He has done through our union with Him by faith.
The power of the resurrection is not that our old sins are forgiven but that God has given us a second chance to try harder to live a better way. That’s not good news, because in 10 minutes we would ruin it. Likewise, the power of the resurrection is not that we have been given some extra bit of something to help us live a better life. Rather, the power of the resurrection is that we have been united to Christ by faith, wherein we are promised the forgiveness of our sins and a new, eternal life in him. His resurrection is our resurrection. His righteousness is our righteousness. His life is our life. His work is our work. His inheritance is our inheritance. By grace alone, through faith alone we are, by the power of the resurrection, found “in” Christ. To be “in” Christ means that all of who he is and all of what he has done is ours, whether it feels that way or not. That is gospel. That is good news.