The cause of addicties is often deep and painful. It’s not easy to deal with.
Not everyone can handle the loss of a loved one.
Not everyone can handle the loss of a marriage or family.
Not everyone can handle a broken relationship with someone they love.
Not everyone can handle losing a good job.
Not everyone can face an accident that caused someone’s death.
Not everyone can bear the guilt of having injured another person due to drunkenness.
Not every young person can deal with rejection from their parents.
Not every young person can deal with a divorce that separates them from their father or mother.
Not everyone can live with the consequences of an accident that left them disabled.
Not everyone can recover from sexual abuse and the trauma that follows.
God, in His infinite mercy, understands this. That’s why Jesus said in Matthew 11:28:
“Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
This means that if you trust in Jesus and have patience (Psalm 40), He will lift your burdens and give you a new life.
The world is growing darker — very dark.
People have lost respect, doing whatever they please. Some even claim to serve God in their own way, and others say that everyone has their own god.
But none of these lies are written in the Bible.
The Bible teaches us that there is only one God.
You are either living in His will or outside of it.
With God, there is no neutral life.
For how you live determines how you will end:
either you go to heaven because you believed in Jesus Christ and received eternal life,
or you reject Christ and face eternal death in hell.
Because of pain, anger, and rejection, many choose the path of drugs or alcohol.
They don’t want to deal with their situations, so they turn to addiction — trying to escape responsibility.
Many people lose hope and begin to think they only feel good when they drink or use drugs.
But that is the devil’s deception.
This issue is far more serious than people realize, because the enemy can take control of what we call your willpower.
And only Jesus Christ can lift you up again —
never forget: the one who controls your mind controls your life.
Matthew 11:28 holds a very deep meaning for our lives,
because not only those addicted to drugs or alcohol carry burdens —
everyone living in darkness and outside God’s will carries one.
That’s why Jesus said:
“Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened” —
with anger, pain, rejection, immorality, sorrow, corruption, deceit, abuse —
everything that exhausts your mind and affects your mental health.
Things that can lead you into addiction or make you believe that more women or men in your marriage will make you happy.
Let seriousness and faith guide our lives — Jesus Christ is the solution.
Written by Pastor Marcel Balootje.