Not all addictions involve extreme pleasure; there are people who are suffereing so much that they have become dependent on drugs, alcohol, gambling, video games, television, and other things as a way of escape. Their body or their emotions are in so much pain that they just want relief from the agony. So, they find something that takes their mind off of the issues of life or the pain in their body. The problem is, these “solutions” have side effects that cause difficulties and pain of their own. Jesus offers cures that help you get rid of you pain without side effects.

Typically human plans don’t take everything into consideration. As we try to navigate through life, we come up with what we think would solve a problem. But, we didn’t have the ability to look at what the long term results would be to our solution to the problem. With our limited minds, we can’t consider every possible contengency. Our solutions not only don’t create permanent answers, they frequently produce problems that can be worse than the problem we were trying to solve. Jesus, however, can consider all the issues we will ever face and come up with a solution that addresses all our problems.

Physical and emotional pain can be excruciating; you may have to get professional help in dealing with a physical or emotional pain. However, you need to stay under Jesus’ supervision as to what advice, medication, and treatments you expose yourself to. There are a lot of professionals who do not believe in Jesus and the Bible. Their procedures and advice will lead you away for the One Who can give you solutions that don’t create new problems and new pain to your life. True science doesn’t try to decide on moral, attitude, character, and right and wrong issues. Yoga, types of meditation, accupunture, and many other fake religions and their procedures will lead you away from truth and healing. Don’t replace one pain with a “solution” that causes emptiness, fake peace, and dead end streets of disappointment.

If you are prescribed mood altering medications, do not allow yourself to be over medicated. Just accept the very minimal amounts of assistance and relief. Take the same approach to pain relievers; take just enough to manage the pain. Don’t allow drugs to be your permanent and complete solution to pain. You need Jesus’ healing power that doesn’t give you new problems that add to your old ones. Mood altering drugs take away aspects of your ability to address and react to the people and circumstances around you. They are designed to give you a middle of the road emotional approach. If you need to get very excited, angery, appreciative, or loving, they will tend to keep you from responding normally. You will just be calm and uneffected by some of the important moments in your life.

There are people who have spent their entire lives interviewing, studying, documenting, and developing characteristics of the various problems that people go through. They specialize in being able to label various types of addictions, they can sit down with you and describle your life as if they knew you on a personal level. They can impress you with their incredible knowledge of all the aspects of your issues. As you sit and listen to them tell you what you are going through, it is easy for you to assume that they know what the solution is. But, they aren’t experts in solutions; they are experts in identifying, breaking into small parts, and labeling every aspect of your problem. They have not only spent times with people like you themselves, they have studied books written by other people who have spent their lives with people having problems like yours.

“Experts” who can give technical names to what kind of a problem you have aren’t necessarily people who know anything about solving it. Jesus didn’t spend His time going around proving to people that He understood the various aspects of their issues; He just went around healing and blessing them. He didn’t listen to people’s problems so He could help them help themselves; HE listened and then worked a miracle in their life. Don’t allow people who have spent a lifetime being a professional who can DESCRIBE your problem down to its smallest detail. Let Jesus HEAL your problem down to its smallest detail.

Heb 4:15 (NIV) For we do not have a High Priest (Jesus) who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have One Who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. There are friends that can sympathize with you, hurt with you, care about you, and stick with you thick and thin. They may the very best thing for your feelings being cared for and loved. But, Jesus doesn’t just offer you sympathy; He has deep sympathy, love, and concern for you; but, that isn’t all He has to offer. Heb 4:16 (NIV) Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, SO THAT we may receive mercy and find grace to HELP us in our time of need. Love, friendship, understanding, and faithfulness are vital characteristics from your relationships; but, you need healing!

There types of help that mask your problem; it is like taking a pain killer. The pain may be indicating a serious problem; but, you may be able to take a pain killer that makes it feel like the problem was taken care of. All you did was get rid of the warning pain that could have saved your life. Human cures are like pain killers; they may make you feel better; but, they didn’t cure you. Healing from Jesus doesn’t just get rid of your addiction. He deals with why you got addicted in the first place. It wouldn’t be a good solution for you to get set free from drugs so you could be addicted to alcohol. If you still had deep seated pain and the drugs are removed from your life that masked the pain, then you would turn to something else to try to get rid of the pain. If you need extreme pleasure to help you through your day, then it wouldn’t be helpful to get rid of the extreme pleasure without getting rid of the need for it.

Since Jesus offers supernatural solutions to your addiction, then you need to be aware of the fact that His solutions are brought about by very different procedures. If you are impressed with any of the above solutions, you may not be willing to allow Jesus to approach your problem by using His techniques. He won’t impress you with big terms and labels; He won’t come to you with great degrees and letters behind His name; He won’t offer you a beautiful office that looks very business like; He won’t even mention that He is the Creator of the universe. Here is His approach to you and your addiction: Mat 11:28-29 (NIV) Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, FOR I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.