Better Off Dead? | A Spiritual Outlook on Addiction

Two years ago, a family member said to me, “If someone struggles with addiction like Bradley, the world’s better off without them.”

They said this to me over a year before my dear husband died from overdose, and they haven’t said a word to me since he died on May 1st.

Addiction is usually a poor coping mechanism from unresolved heartaches and traumas. So in my husbands grief, they said he was better off dead for trying to cope with his suppressed pain in a poor way…

And in mine now, they’ve not even given their condolences for my tremendous loss.

This person grew up in church and attends regularly. For this belief - that someone who struggles with addiction is better dead - to be held by a person in general is astounding to me, but for someone who claims to be a Christian… is absolutely mind-boggling.

Christ CAME to seek and to save that which was lost.

He LEFT the 99 who had it together in the pen, for the ONE wayward sheep who had strayed.

He ALLOWED His body to be broken so that we - ALL OF US - might LIVE.

There is a vast disconnect in our society towards people suffering with addiction, and the thoughts of God towards them.

Addiction can be a brain disease: the mid-brain can be wired incorrectly to believe survival hinges upon the usage of the substance. It KILLS HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE every single day. It’s not a lifestyle choice for many. It’s an insidious twisting of the brain department responsible for survival.

It’s misunderstood. It’s stigmatized. And it’s judged, hatefully.

There’s a huge problem with the church, when people claim the name of Christ, labeling themselves as “Christians,” which means “little Christs,” who then turn around and fail to do the ONE thing He stands for most:

LOVING PEOPLE.

We're not here to save them.

And we're not here to shame them.

We're here to love them, and encourage them forward with a healthy balance of biblical truth, friendship, accountability, prayer, and open-minded patience and humility towards their specific mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical health battle.

I refuse to bear the weight of shame that comment was meant to bring me! That shame, that ugliness, THAT moral failing - belongs to the enemy. That same shame has divided our society: into those who struggle with addiction or love someone who does, and those who don’t.

I’m not wrestling against that family member or holding anger or animosity towards them… I’m holding it towards the spiritual WICKEDNESS behind it.

“We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness.” These people struggle with many demons that haunt them; we’re not to judge them based on those spirits or the manifestation of those spirits in their lives… thieving spirits, lying spirits, self-loathing spirits, violent spirits.

Jesus didn’t judge Mary Magdalene based on the spirits who possessed her… He loved her for who she was and saw past the wickedness that manifested through her, and had compassion.

We are not called to judge anyone struggling against a stronghold and mental health crisis, such as addiction. We’re called to LOVE them and advocate for them spiritually through PRAYER and strong boundaries, with an attitude of gentleness and love. “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted." Gal. 6:1

Addiction is associated with sin, wrong-doing, and shame and ugliness, because those are the types of spirits that have attached to the precious souls in the midst of their poor coping mechanisms.

Instead of being loved for WHO THEY ARE, and valued by others the same way the God who CREATED them values them, they- and the ones who love them- become demonized. When people look at addicted people, they only choose to see the demons tormenting them.

We need CHANGE in our communities. This happens in more families than each of us know… and the devil is using HATE and SHAME to fuel this epidemic, even further!

I will choose love and compassion. I will choose to be a Christian, even with a controversial topic. I will live my life loving people, and hating the things of this world. I will not allow the devil to shame me for the ONE thing that makes me most like Jesus.

My addicted loved one’s DEATH didn’t make this world a “better” place… Bradley’s PRESENCE here - and in my life - did. He changed my world forever. And now, by God's grace, I’m going to change the world around me, as a result. The devil already knows he’s gonna pay. My personal mission has become advocating for those impacted by the effects of addiction.

I will share hope and truth in this way.

How will you?

#endoverdose #stopthestigma